Myshuno 16: Actual Penguins
Prompt #16: Everyone (except your imports) wakes up as an ACTUAL penguin
From: regacylady
Rating: Everyone
Characters: Donna and David Doran, Ferd and Mag Penguino, George Goodytwoshoes, and a few special guests
Summary: I think the prompt says it all.
Words: 3,610
My Card
Note: A total crack fic that ended up being epically long. I’m rather proud of this one so I hope you all enjoy it!
Donna Doran had traveled the stars with a mad man in a blue box. She had seen many things that were amazing, wonderful, terrifying, and occasionally just plain weird. But she had to concede that this may well have been one of the strangest things she had ever encountered.
It had started off as a normal day. The sunlight streaming through the window into her face had gently prodded Donna Doran awake. She stirred without opening her eyes, the sun was too bright and it would hurt. Instead she turned toward George’s side of the bed, planning to bury her face against his back and hide her eyes from the sun. She snuggled up against him reaching an arm out to wrap around his chest, but something wasn’t right. Instead of skin the surface under her hand felt like...feathers. Feathers? Had George’s pillow exploded in the night? She opened one eye cautiously, not wanting to face the light, but what she saw made her sit bolt upright in bed. George’s skin was no longer green, instead it was black…and white…and feathered. In fact it was evident that George had either become or been replaced by…
“A penguin?” Donna said. Perhaps this was a joke. “George?” she said cautiously.
The penguin opened an eye and then quickly covered its face with a flipper, shielding its eyes from the sun. From under its flipper it made an incoherent sound that may have been a disgruntled and sleepy, “What?”
Donna didn’t jump, after all she had encountered creatures that looked like animals but that could talk before. Instead she called George’s name again, this time a bit louder.
The penguin flipped over so that it was facing her. “What?” it repeated, this time quite clearly.
“I…uh…I’m not sure how to say this but…well…are you feeling alright?” she asked.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” her husband the penguin replied.
“It’s just that…you’re a penguin…” Donna said.
The penguin made a sound that seemed to be laughter, “Well yes, I am technically a Penguino even if my last name was Goodytwoshoes before I took yours. I don’t know why that would affect my health, unless you are implying that I’m a bit crazy like Aunt Jenny or Grandpa Captain.”
“No…I mean…you look like a penguin. You’re black and white and have feathers…”
The penguin gave her a long look. “Haven’t you heard my Grandpa talking? We are penguins. Are you sure that you aren’t sick?”
“I…well I feel fine,” Donna replied. “And you turning into a penguin wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen…but you’re usually green. Like me…”
“No I’m not,” the penguin replied. They were interrupted as the alarm clock went off. “Hmmm…I need to get up or I’ll risk being late to work. Should I call in sick and stay with you today?” George the penguin asked, giving her a concerned look.
“No that’s okay. I…probably just need a strong cup of coffee,” Donna replied.
“Okay…well then I’m going to go take my morning bath. Call me if you need me,” the penguin said before performing a perfect bellyflop out of the bed and waddling into the bathroom.
Donna stared after it for a moment. When the unmistakable sounds of a penguin splashing in a tub reached her ears she suddenly jumped into motion. Rolling over she grabbed her cell phone to call Ginger, her sister-in-law.
“Ginger? Good morning,” Donna began. “I hope I didn’t wake up any of the kids but I had to ask… When I woke up this morning I found that George had turned into a penguin and I just wanted to see if this was widespread or an isolated incident.”
Donna heard laughing on the other side of the phone. “Donna…we ARE penguins,” Ginger replied. “Is this your idea of a morning joke?”
“I…yeah…sorry. It’s not a very good one is it?” Donna replied.
“Pretty bad,” Ginger said. Well it sounded like Ginger at least… “If you don’t mind I need to go take care of the chicks and get Spacely some breakfast. I’ll call you later though alright?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Donna replied. She slowly placed the phone back on the table. So this appeared to not be an isolated incident. But if Ginger and Spacely and their kids were all penguins why did she still look the same? She thought through the possibilities, maybe it had something to do with being part alien. But then why was Ginger affected and Donna not?
“Well,” Donna thought. “Ginger was adopted and with her small button nose it’s possible that she has some alien blood.” And as for herself, well, it wouldn’t be the first time that her unique blend of human, alien, and elven blood had saved her. To test her theory she needed to know if anyone else in Antarctica was affected. But before she could act George the penguin came waddling back out of the bathroom.
“I’m going to grab some breakfast and then head off to work,” he said as he walked out of their room. Donna heard him toboggan down the stairs and got up to follow him, wondering how he was going to cook breakfast.
She found him in the kitchen and watched with interest as he deftly opened the fridge door with his beak and pulled out a cinnamon breakfast roll. After eating it he cleaned the sugar off of his feathers and said, “Okay. I’m off to work!”
“Have a good day dear,” Donna replied as she leaned down and kissed the top of his head. She followed him to the door, curious as to how Captain Hero would get to work as a penguin. Her eyes widened in surprise as she watched the penguin take off at a run down the sidewalk flapping his wings and then lift off almost effortlessly into the sky.
“That just shouldn’t be possible,” Donna muttered to herself. Then she gasped. As she watched all around her penguins were emerging from houses to catch carpools and buses. In fact, it looked like it wasn’t just George and his family that was affected but ALL of Antarctica. Donna looked around, expecting to see a blue box materialize out of thin air at any moment. After all, strange stuff like this was the doctor’s specialty. But she hadn’t seen him since she borrowed the TARDIS and accidently trapped herself and her siblings in this version of the multi-verse. She sighed, “I guess I’m just going to have to figure this one out on my own…”
She stood outside in the snow pondering for a bit before she was struck by another idea. Hurrying into the house she called her brother David.
“Hi David!” she said when he answered the phone after just one ring. “How are you?”
“I have been having the weirdest morning…” David replied.
“Let me guess. Everyone around you has turned into a penguin?” Donna asked.
“Yes! So you are seeing it to?” David asked.
“Yes,” Donna said.
“Oh thank goodness. I thought I had gone crazy…” David replied.
“Have you seen anyone else that still looks normal?” Donna asked.
“Well I saw Miguel leaving his house looking rather confused today,” David replied. “But everyone else there seemed to have been transformed…”
“So it’s just the natives then,” Donna said quietly.
“What?”
“It’s just the natives,” Donna repeated. “Those of us who came from other multi-verses haven’t been affected…”
“Weird,” David replied. “What do you think is going on?”
“I have some ideas but I need to do some more research first.”
“Well call me if you need some help.”
“I will.”
*****
For the rest of the day, Donna traveled around Antarctica. She was half hoping to run into the Doctor and hear him tell her that a meteor had brought too much psychic pollen into the atmosphere and that they were all suffering from mass hallucinations or that another alien species had created some sort of high tech beam that turned everyone into penguins, but a blue box never materialized.
“No luck,” she said later that afternoon when she met David at his house.
“No signs of alien technology?” David asked.
“None.”
“What about magic?”
“I…huh…you know? That’s a good thought,” Donna replied. Without offering an explanation she turned and started running down the sidewalk.
“Hey where are you going?” David called after her.
“I’ll explain later!” Donna called back. “I just hope I’m right…”
*****
A short time later Donna arrived at Ferd and Mag’s house. She rang the doorbell and waited. A few moments later she thought she saw a flash of light and then heard the sound of someone waddling to the door.
When the door opened there were two penguins standing there giving her appraising looks.
“Ferd and Mag?” Donna asked.
“Yes?” the penguins replied in unison.
“Geez, you are just as impossible to tell apart as penguins as you are when you are sims,” Donna muttered.
She could have sworn that the penguins grinned at each other. Then they turned back to Donna.
“How come you still look like you…”
“And all the rest of us are shorter and covered in feathers?”
“I…wait…so you aren’t convinced that you are supposed to be penguins?” Donna asked.
“We are most certainly not…”
“…supposed to be penguins.”
“Having flippers makes holding a wand…”
…rather difficult. We have to hold them in our beaks!”
“Which means muddled up incantations!”
“Yeah I could see that being a big problem,” Donna nodded. “Can I come in?”
“Yes,” the penguins said in unison.
Once they were inside one of the penguins began, “We think we should take you down to our secret room…”
“Because whoever did this might be listening in…”
“And our wards should protect us…”
Donna reached down and grabbed one of the penguin’s flippers. A bright circle of light surrounded them and then suddenly they were standing in a dark room with two cauldrons and multiple potions around the walls.
“Our magic shop stock,” the penguin said as she let go of its flipper.
Donna nodded, “So how come you two seem to be the only ones who know something is wrong? Other than us imports?”
The penguins exchanged a look again.
“We think our wards protected us…”
“We were down here when it happened…”
“We know it’s some sort of spell…”
“Because we felt the magic…”
“So maybe the fact that we are also magic…”
“Means it isn’t affecting us…”
“The way it was meant to…”
“So we are looking for some sort of rogue magician and not aliens then?” Donna asked.
The two penguins nodded.
“And…are we sure it wasn’t elven magic?” Donna asked, unable to keep a bit of worry out of her voice.
“Definitely not elven,” the penguins said together.
“Good,” Donna said relieved. “So do you have a plan on how to find this person and what to do about him or her?”
“Well…” one penguin began.
“We think we have worked out how…” the other penguin continued.
“To reverse the spell on ourselves.”
“But the spell is too strong for us…”
“To fix everyone…”
“Without finding the culprit.”
“So how can I help?” Donna asked.
“George told us about some of your adventures…”
“We know you have experience with strange things…”
“We are hoping once we are sims again…”
“To have you help us track down the witch or wizard.”
“Of course!” Donna replied. “And I think I know just the person to help us out.” She pulled out her cell phone. “Let me just make a quick call.”
*****
A few minutes later, Donna was waiting in the entry way of Ferd and Mag’s house when David walked through the front door.
“So is this the part where you explain what is going on?” David asked.
“I’ll explain later once we are someplace safe. Can you drop us both through the floor?”
“Of course,” David grinned.
Once they were safely in Ferd and Mag’s room Donna and the two penguins explained what they thought was going on.
When they had finished David groaned, “Magic. Why is it always magic?”
Donna gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean ‘always magic’?” she asked.
“I just get the feeling that I’ve had to deal with magic before,” David replied.
“Ah, multi-verse echo,” Donna nodded sympathetically. “Well at least your experiences are sort of consistent!” she grinned.
“Small comfort,” David replied. “So what’s the plan?”
“Penguin potion,” the two penguins replied.
“Doesn’t that conjure penguins out of thin air?” Donna asked.
“Yes,” the penguins chorused.
“But we think we can alter it…”
“So that it will reverse the spell…”
“Are you sure that’s possible?” David asked.
“No,” the penguins replied with what looked like a devilish grin. “But it’s always fun to experiment!”
*****
A few hours later, Donna, David, and the Ferd and Mag penguins were standing around a bubbling cauldron.
“Thanks for the help…”one of the penguins said.
“It would have been impossible to open the ingredients…”
“And to stir without you!”
“No problem,” Donna replied.
“Now we just need to drink it…” the other penguin said.
“Can you get us each a glass?”
Donna hurried to fill two glasses and handed them to the penguins who grasped them with both flippers.
“Bottoms up!” the penguins said in unison and drank the potion.
Donna held her breath as both penguins were enveloped in a blindingly bright light and then suddenly the light was gone and Ferd and Mag were standing before her looking just as she remembered them.
“Hey! We’re identical again!” The twins cried before hugging each other.
“Well I’m glad that worked,” David said, relief evident in his voice.
“Me to,” Donna replied. “So what’s the next step?”
“We were thinking…” Ferd began and then he and Mag took turns filling Donna and David in on the plan.
*****
It was dark when Donna, David, Ferd and Mag set their plan into motion. Ferd and Mag stood side-by-side and began making identical wand movements. Suddenly a small ball of light appeared in the middle of the room. It hovered there for a few moments and then began to slowly rise toward the ceiling.
“So that will lead us to the culprits?” Donna asked.
“Yes,” Ferd and Mag chorused. “But we need to follow it.”
Ferd and Mag held out their hands and Donna and David each grasped one. A moment later they had apparated back upstairs, just in time to see the ball of light slip through the front door.
“Let’s go!” David said, following it through the door before anyone had a chance to open it.
They followed the ball of light quietly, Ferd and Mag with their wands out in case they needed to make it disappear quickly. None of them were overly surprised when the light led them away from town and down toward the harbor.
Ferd or Mag snuffed the light out as soon as it became apparent that it was leading them to one of the old warehouses.
“Someone is in there,” David said, pointing to the lights flickering in one of the windows.
“Shall we investigate?” Donna asked.
David nodded, “Let me find a good hiding place and then I’ll bring you all through the walls with me. No offence but apparating does seem to be a bit noisy.”
“Sounds good,” Ferd and Mag replied.
David was back within minutes. “There are boxes piled all the way around the perimeter in there. We can easily hide behind them.”
“Show us the best spot,” Donna said.
*****
“Donna, you first,” David said once they had reached the place he thought as safest. “I’ll be back for you two in a moment.”
Donna grasped her brother’s hand and walked forward. As soon as they were through the wall they were able to hear the perpetrators. And they were laughing. But it wasn’t an evil laugh, no this sounded like school girls giggling.
As David went back through the wall for Ferd and Mag, Donna peeked around the edge of a crate to try and see what was going on. Her eyes widened as she realized that she recognized a few of the people in the room.
“What do you see?” Ferd or Mag whispered in her ear.
Donna turned to look at the three men, the surprise evident on her face. “I think they’re all simselves!” she whispered.
“Haha. Very funny,” an extremely familiar voice said.
Ferd and Mag looked at each other, “Pen?” they mouthed.
The giggling got louder.
“You do realize I’ve spent my entire day trying to set this right?” Pen continued. “Now my next chapter is going to be even later!”
The giggling mostly stopped at that but there was still a hint of amusement in the voices of the other simselves when they replied.
“Awwwww….Pennnnn….”
“Come on. It was just for laughs!”
“We were going to fix it!”
“Oh really?” Pen asked. From her tone of voice Donna knew that she was probably standing there with her hands on her hips and one eye brow raised.
“Well…we were going to fix it eventually….”
“Didn’t you see them all going about their lives this morning though? It was hilarious!”
“Yeah with penguins flying to work and tobogganing around town!”
And with that everyone started giggling again.
“That’s ENOUGH!” Pen yelled. “I want it fixed NOW!”
“Geez, no need to use The Voice on us,” one of the simselves said.
“Fuzzy, I know you’re the only one who could cast the spell so reverse it now. And which one of the rest you came up with the idea in the first place?”
There was the sound of shifting and then another simself said, “Awww come on guys! You all said you wouldn’t tell on me!”
Donna peeked around the crate again to see what was going on. Every simself in the room was pointing to one simself sitting in the middle of a couch.
“Cait? Really?” Pen asked. “I would have guessed Rose or Ori… Fuzzy! Didn’t I say I wanted you to set it right?”
“Okay, okay…” A woman with purple hair stood up and pulled out a wand. She muttered a few incantations and then the entire room was bathed in a golden light. Looking back out the window behind her, Donna could see that the light seemed to cover the whole city.
“And fixed,” Fuzzy said as the light faded.
“Thank you,” Pen replied.
“You have to admit that it was funny though!” someone piped up.
“Yes, clearly you were all enablers,” Pen replied. “Why am I not surprised? The question is what to do with you all now…”
“Do with us?” someone asked.
“Yes,” Pen nodded. “I think the punishment should fit the crime. Don’t you?”
“What?” the simselves began to protest.
“Boys? Donna? I know you’re in here. Would you come out please?” Pen called over the din.
“How does she do that?” David muttered as the four of them came out from behind the crates.
“Ferd. Mag. Am I correct in thinking that you have already figured out what spell was causing the problem and how to reverse it?” Pen asked without taking her eyes off of the simselves in front of her.
“Yes,” they replied.
“Good. I think one night as penguins will cool them off,” Pen said with a smirk.
“Sure thing!” Ferd and Mag chorused. With identical grins on their faces they began to chant the incantation. Donna watched with amazement as all the simselves in the room shrank and grew feathers.
“Nice job,” Pen said when the transformation was complete. “I liked the added touches.”
“You’re welcome,” Ferd and Mag replied.
“Added touches?” one of the simselves asked.
“Katy has a beard!” one of them suddenly cried.
“And I have a Rose!” Rose called.
“And Di has a hat and Cait has a bonnet!”
“Prof has a pink frilly bow!”
“And Fuzzy has purple feathers!”
The simself penguins all began to laugh.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Pen said with a smile. “Have fun!” She turned to leave motioning for her sims to follow her.
“Who wants to go tobogganing?” they heard one of the simselves call as they left the building.
“They aren’t really taking it as a punishment are they?” Donna asked.
“No and I didn’t expect them too,” Pen said as she started to laugh. “I suggest you all go home to your families now. Ferd and Mag I’ll see you in the morning to reverse this okay? Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone since they won’t really remember it.”
“No problem,” Donna replied. “We Dorans are good at keeping secrets.”
“I know,” Pen smiled.
“I have one question though,” Donna continued.
“Yes?”
“How come the imports weren’t affected?”
“Ah well I suspect that some of the simselves objected to having their creations turned into penguins so Fuzzy decided just to target the native population.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Donna replied.
“Any other questions?” Pen asked.
“Not right now at least,” Donna smiled.
“Goodnight then,” Pen replied as she turned toward her house.
*****
Donna walked in her own front door a short time later.
“Hello? George?” she called.
“In here!” George called back.
Donna walked into the living room where green and feather-less George was getting up off of the couch. Donna smiled with relief. “Oh were you asleep?” she asked.
“Yeah…I thought I would take a quick nap,” George replied rubbing his eyes. “But I had the craziest dream that everyone had turned into a penguin except you…”
“Weird…” Donna replied with a smile. “At least it was just a dream…”
From: regacylady
Rating: Everyone
Characters: Donna and David Doran, Ferd and Mag Penguino, George Goodytwoshoes, and a few special guests
Summary: I think the prompt says it all.
Words: 3,610
My Card
Note: A total crack fic that ended up being epically long. I’m rather proud of this one so I hope you all enjoy it!
Donna Doran had traveled the stars with a mad man in a blue box. She had seen many things that were amazing, wonderful, terrifying, and occasionally just plain weird. But she had to concede that this may well have been one of the strangest things she had ever encountered.
It had started off as a normal day. The sunlight streaming through the window into her face had gently prodded Donna Doran awake. She stirred without opening her eyes, the sun was too bright and it would hurt. Instead she turned toward George’s side of the bed, planning to bury her face against his back and hide her eyes from the sun. She snuggled up against him reaching an arm out to wrap around his chest, but something wasn’t right. Instead of skin the surface under her hand felt like...feathers. Feathers? Had George’s pillow exploded in the night? She opened one eye cautiously, not wanting to face the light, but what she saw made her sit bolt upright in bed. George’s skin was no longer green, instead it was black…and white…and feathered. In fact it was evident that George had either become or been replaced by…
“A penguin?” Donna said. Perhaps this was a joke. “George?” she said cautiously.
The penguin opened an eye and then quickly covered its face with a flipper, shielding its eyes from the sun. From under its flipper it made an incoherent sound that may have been a disgruntled and sleepy, “What?”
Donna didn’t jump, after all she had encountered creatures that looked like animals but that could talk before. Instead she called George’s name again, this time a bit louder.
The penguin flipped over so that it was facing her. “What?” it repeated, this time quite clearly.
“I…uh…I’m not sure how to say this but…well…are you feeling alright?” she asked.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” her husband the penguin replied.
“It’s just that…you’re a penguin…” Donna said.
The penguin made a sound that seemed to be laughter, “Well yes, I am technically a Penguino even if my last name was Goodytwoshoes before I took yours. I don’t know why that would affect my health, unless you are implying that I’m a bit crazy like Aunt Jenny or Grandpa Captain.”
“No…I mean…you look like a penguin. You’re black and white and have feathers…”
The penguin gave her a long look. “Haven’t you heard my Grandpa talking? We are penguins. Are you sure that you aren’t sick?”
“I…well I feel fine,” Donna replied. “And you turning into a penguin wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen…but you’re usually green. Like me…”
“No I’m not,” the penguin replied. They were interrupted as the alarm clock went off. “Hmmm…I need to get up or I’ll risk being late to work. Should I call in sick and stay with you today?” George the penguin asked, giving her a concerned look.
“No that’s okay. I…probably just need a strong cup of coffee,” Donna replied.
“Okay…well then I’m going to go take my morning bath. Call me if you need me,” the penguin said before performing a perfect bellyflop out of the bed and waddling into the bathroom.
Donna stared after it for a moment. When the unmistakable sounds of a penguin splashing in a tub reached her ears she suddenly jumped into motion. Rolling over she grabbed her cell phone to call Ginger, her sister-in-law.
“Ginger? Good morning,” Donna began. “I hope I didn’t wake up any of the kids but I had to ask… When I woke up this morning I found that George had turned into a penguin and I just wanted to see if this was widespread or an isolated incident.”
Donna heard laughing on the other side of the phone. “Donna…we ARE penguins,” Ginger replied. “Is this your idea of a morning joke?”
“I…yeah…sorry. It’s not a very good one is it?” Donna replied.
“Pretty bad,” Ginger said. Well it sounded like Ginger at least… “If you don’t mind I need to go take care of the chicks and get Spacely some breakfast. I’ll call you later though alright?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Donna replied. She slowly placed the phone back on the table. So this appeared to not be an isolated incident. But if Ginger and Spacely and their kids were all penguins why did she still look the same? She thought through the possibilities, maybe it had something to do with being part alien. But then why was Ginger affected and Donna not?
“Well,” Donna thought. “Ginger was adopted and with her small button nose it’s possible that she has some alien blood.” And as for herself, well, it wouldn’t be the first time that her unique blend of human, alien, and elven blood had saved her. To test her theory she needed to know if anyone else in Antarctica was affected. But before she could act George the penguin came waddling back out of the bathroom.
“I’m going to grab some breakfast and then head off to work,” he said as he walked out of their room. Donna heard him toboggan down the stairs and got up to follow him, wondering how he was going to cook breakfast.
She found him in the kitchen and watched with interest as he deftly opened the fridge door with his beak and pulled out a cinnamon breakfast roll. After eating it he cleaned the sugar off of his feathers and said, “Okay. I’m off to work!”
“Have a good day dear,” Donna replied as she leaned down and kissed the top of his head. She followed him to the door, curious as to how Captain Hero would get to work as a penguin. Her eyes widened in surprise as she watched the penguin take off at a run down the sidewalk flapping his wings and then lift off almost effortlessly into the sky.
“That just shouldn’t be possible,” Donna muttered to herself. Then she gasped. As she watched all around her penguins were emerging from houses to catch carpools and buses. In fact, it looked like it wasn’t just George and his family that was affected but ALL of Antarctica. Donna looked around, expecting to see a blue box materialize out of thin air at any moment. After all, strange stuff like this was the doctor’s specialty. But she hadn’t seen him since she borrowed the TARDIS and accidently trapped herself and her siblings in this version of the multi-verse. She sighed, “I guess I’m just going to have to figure this one out on my own…”
She stood outside in the snow pondering for a bit before she was struck by another idea. Hurrying into the house she called her brother David.
“Hi David!” she said when he answered the phone after just one ring. “How are you?”
“I have been having the weirdest morning…” David replied.
“Let me guess. Everyone around you has turned into a penguin?” Donna asked.
“Yes! So you are seeing it to?” David asked.
“Yes,” Donna said.
“Oh thank goodness. I thought I had gone crazy…” David replied.
“Have you seen anyone else that still looks normal?” Donna asked.
“Well I saw Miguel leaving his house looking rather confused today,” David replied. “But everyone else there seemed to have been transformed…”
“So it’s just the natives then,” Donna said quietly.
“What?”
“It’s just the natives,” Donna repeated. “Those of us who came from other multi-verses haven’t been affected…”
“Weird,” David replied. “What do you think is going on?”
“I have some ideas but I need to do some more research first.”
“Well call me if you need some help.”
“I will.”
*****
For the rest of the day, Donna traveled around Antarctica. She was half hoping to run into the Doctor and hear him tell her that a meteor had brought too much psychic pollen into the atmosphere and that they were all suffering from mass hallucinations or that another alien species had created some sort of high tech beam that turned everyone into penguins, but a blue box never materialized.
“No luck,” she said later that afternoon when she met David at his house.
“No signs of alien technology?” David asked.
“None.”
“What about magic?”
“I…huh…you know? That’s a good thought,” Donna replied. Without offering an explanation she turned and started running down the sidewalk.
“Hey where are you going?” David called after her.
“I’ll explain later!” Donna called back. “I just hope I’m right…”
*****
A short time later Donna arrived at Ferd and Mag’s house. She rang the doorbell and waited. A few moments later she thought she saw a flash of light and then heard the sound of someone waddling to the door.
When the door opened there were two penguins standing there giving her appraising looks.
“Ferd and Mag?” Donna asked.
“Yes?” the penguins replied in unison.
“Geez, you are just as impossible to tell apart as penguins as you are when you are sims,” Donna muttered.
She could have sworn that the penguins grinned at each other. Then they turned back to Donna.
“How come you still look like you…”
“And all the rest of us are shorter and covered in feathers?”
“I…wait…so you aren’t convinced that you are supposed to be penguins?” Donna asked.
“We are most certainly not…”
“…supposed to be penguins.”
“Having flippers makes holding a wand…”
…rather difficult. We have to hold them in our beaks!”
“Which means muddled up incantations!”
“Yeah I could see that being a big problem,” Donna nodded. “Can I come in?”
“Yes,” the penguins said in unison.
Once they were inside one of the penguins began, “We think we should take you down to our secret room…”
“Because whoever did this might be listening in…”
“And our wards should protect us…”
Donna reached down and grabbed one of the penguin’s flippers. A bright circle of light surrounded them and then suddenly they were standing in a dark room with two cauldrons and multiple potions around the walls.
“Our magic shop stock,” the penguin said as she let go of its flipper.
Donna nodded, “So how come you two seem to be the only ones who know something is wrong? Other than us imports?”
The penguins exchanged a look again.
“We think our wards protected us…”
“We were down here when it happened…”
“We know it’s some sort of spell…”
“Because we felt the magic…”
“So maybe the fact that we are also magic…”
“Means it isn’t affecting us…”
“The way it was meant to…”
“So we are looking for some sort of rogue magician and not aliens then?” Donna asked.
The two penguins nodded.
“And…are we sure it wasn’t elven magic?” Donna asked, unable to keep a bit of worry out of her voice.
“Definitely not elven,” the penguins said together.
“Good,” Donna said relieved. “So do you have a plan on how to find this person and what to do about him or her?”
“Well…” one penguin began.
“We think we have worked out how…” the other penguin continued.
“To reverse the spell on ourselves.”
“But the spell is too strong for us…”
“To fix everyone…”
“Without finding the culprit.”
“So how can I help?” Donna asked.
“George told us about some of your adventures…”
“We know you have experience with strange things…”
“We are hoping once we are sims again…”
“To have you help us track down the witch or wizard.”
“Of course!” Donna replied. “And I think I know just the person to help us out.” She pulled out her cell phone. “Let me just make a quick call.”
*****
A few minutes later, Donna was waiting in the entry way of Ferd and Mag’s house when David walked through the front door.
“So is this the part where you explain what is going on?” David asked.
“I’ll explain later once we are someplace safe. Can you drop us both through the floor?”
“Of course,” David grinned.
Once they were safely in Ferd and Mag’s room Donna and the two penguins explained what they thought was going on.
When they had finished David groaned, “Magic. Why is it always magic?”
Donna gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean ‘always magic’?” she asked.
“I just get the feeling that I’ve had to deal with magic before,” David replied.
“Ah, multi-verse echo,” Donna nodded sympathetically. “Well at least your experiences are sort of consistent!” she grinned.
“Small comfort,” David replied. “So what’s the plan?”
“Penguin potion,” the two penguins replied.
“Doesn’t that conjure penguins out of thin air?” Donna asked.
“Yes,” the penguins chorused.
“But we think we can alter it…”
“So that it will reverse the spell…”
“Are you sure that’s possible?” David asked.
“No,” the penguins replied with what looked like a devilish grin. “But it’s always fun to experiment!”
*****
A few hours later, Donna, David, and the Ferd and Mag penguins were standing around a bubbling cauldron.
“Thanks for the help…”one of the penguins said.
“It would have been impossible to open the ingredients…”
“And to stir without you!”
“No problem,” Donna replied.
“Now we just need to drink it…” the other penguin said.
“Can you get us each a glass?”
Donna hurried to fill two glasses and handed them to the penguins who grasped them with both flippers.
“Bottoms up!” the penguins said in unison and drank the potion.
Donna held her breath as both penguins were enveloped in a blindingly bright light and then suddenly the light was gone and Ferd and Mag were standing before her looking just as she remembered them.
“Hey! We’re identical again!” The twins cried before hugging each other.
“Well I’m glad that worked,” David said, relief evident in his voice.
“Me to,” Donna replied. “So what’s the next step?”
“We were thinking…” Ferd began and then he and Mag took turns filling Donna and David in on the plan.
*****
It was dark when Donna, David, Ferd and Mag set their plan into motion. Ferd and Mag stood side-by-side and began making identical wand movements. Suddenly a small ball of light appeared in the middle of the room. It hovered there for a few moments and then began to slowly rise toward the ceiling.
“So that will lead us to the culprits?” Donna asked.
“Yes,” Ferd and Mag chorused. “But we need to follow it.”
Ferd and Mag held out their hands and Donna and David each grasped one. A moment later they had apparated back upstairs, just in time to see the ball of light slip through the front door.
“Let’s go!” David said, following it through the door before anyone had a chance to open it.
They followed the ball of light quietly, Ferd and Mag with their wands out in case they needed to make it disappear quickly. None of them were overly surprised when the light led them away from town and down toward the harbor.
Ferd or Mag snuffed the light out as soon as it became apparent that it was leading them to one of the old warehouses.
“Someone is in there,” David said, pointing to the lights flickering in one of the windows.
“Shall we investigate?” Donna asked.
David nodded, “Let me find a good hiding place and then I’ll bring you all through the walls with me. No offence but apparating does seem to be a bit noisy.”
“Sounds good,” Ferd and Mag replied.
David was back within minutes. “There are boxes piled all the way around the perimeter in there. We can easily hide behind them.”
“Show us the best spot,” Donna said.
*****
“Donna, you first,” David said once they had reached the place he thought as safest. “I’ll be back for you two in a moment.”
Donna grasped her brother’s hand and walked forward. As soon as they were through the wall they were able to hear the perpetrators. And they were laughing. But it wasn’t an evil laugh, no this sounded like school girls giggling.
As David went back through the wall for Ferd and Mag, Donna peeked around the edge of a crate to try and see what was going on. Her eyes widened as she realized that she recognized a few of the people in the room.
“What do you see?” Ferd or Mag whispered in her ear.
Donna turned to look at the three men, the surprise evident on her face. “I think they’re all simselves!” she whispered.
“Haha. Very funny,” an extremely familiar voice said.
Ferd and Mag looked at each other, “Pen?” they mouthed.
The giggling got louder.
“You do realize I’ve spent my entire day trying to set this right?” Pen continued. “Now my next chapter is going to be even later!”
The giggling mostly stopped at that but there was still a hint of amusement in the voices of the other simselves when they replied.
“Awwwww….Pennnnn….”
“Come on. It was just for laughs!”
“We were going to fix it!”
“Oh really?” Pen asked. From her tone of voice Donna knew that she was probably standing there with her hands on her hips and one eye brow raised.
“Well…we were going to fix it eventually….”
“Didn’t you see them all going about their lives this morning though? It was hilarious!”
“Yeah with penguins flying to work and tobogganing around town!”
And with that everyone started giggling again.
“That’s ENOUGH!” Pen yelled. “I want it fixed NOW!”
“Geez, no need to use The Voice on us,” one of the simselves said.
“Fuzzy, I know you’re the only one who could cast the spell so reverse it now. And which one of the rest you came up with the idea in the first place?”
There was the sound of shifting and then another simself said, “Awww come on guys! You all said you wouldn’t tell on me!”
Donna peeked around the crate again to see what was going on. Every simself in the room was pointing to one simself sitting in the middle of a couch.
“Cait? Really?” Pen asked. “I would have guessed Rose or Ori… Fuzzy! Didn’t I say I wanted you to set it right?”
“Okay, okay…” A woman with purple hair stood up and pulled out a wand. She muttered a few incantations and then the entire room was bathed in a golden light. Looking back out the window behind her, Donna could see that the light seemed to cover the whole city.
“And fixed,” Fuzzy said as the light faded.
“Thank you,” Pen replied.
“You have to admit that it was funny though!” someone piped up.
“Yes, clearly you were all enablers,” Pen replied. “Why am I not surprised? The question is what to do with you all now…”
“Do with us?” someone asked.
“Yes,” Pen nodded. “I think the punishment should fit the crime. Don’t you?”
“What?” the simselves began to protest.
“Boys? Donna? I know you’re in here. Would you come out please?” Pen called over the din.
“How does she do that?” David muttered as the four of them came out from behind the crates.
“Ferd. Mag. Am I correct in thinking that you have already figured out what spell was causing the problem and how to reverse it?” Pen asked without taking her eyes off of the simselves in front of her.
“Yes,” they replied.
“Good. I think one night as penguins will cool them off,” Pen said with a smirk.
“Sure thing!” Ferd and Mag chorused. With identical grins on their faces they began to chant the incantation. Donna watched with amazement as all the simselves in the room shrank and grew feathers.
“Nice job,” Pen said when the transformation was complete. “I liked the added touches.”
“You’re welcome,” Ferd and Mag replied.
“Added touches?” one of the simselves asked.
“Katy has a beard!” one of them suddenly cried.
“And I have a Rose!” Rose called.
“And Di has a hat and Cait has a bonnet!”
“Prof has a pink frilly bow!”
“And Fuzzy has purple feathers!”
The simself penguins all began to laugh.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Pen said with a smile. “Have fun!” She turned to leave motioning for her sims to follow her.
“Who wants to go tobogganing?” they heard one of the simselves call as they left the building.
“They aren’t really taking it as a punishment are they?” Donna asked.
“No and I didn’t expect them too,” Pen said as she started to laugh. “I suggest you all go home to your families now. Ferd and Mag I’ll see you in the morning to reverse this okay? Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone since they won’t really remember it.”
“No problem,” Donna replied. “We Dorans are good at keeping secrets.”
“I know,” Pen smiled.
“I have one question though,” Donna continued.
“Yes?”
“How come the imports weren’t affected?”
“Ah well I suspect that some of the simselves objected to having their creations turned into penguins so Fuzzy decided just to target the native population.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Donna replied.
“Any other questions?” Pen asked.
“Not right now at least,” Donna smiled.
“Goodnight then,” Pen replied as she turned toward her house.
*****
Donna walked in her own front door a short time later.
“Hello? George?” she called.
“In here!” George called back.
Donna walked into the living room where green and feather-less George was getting up off of the couch. Donna smiled with relief. “Oh were you asleep?” she asked.
“Yeah…I thought I would take a quick nap,” George replied rubbing his eyes. “But I had the craziest dream that everyone had turned into a penguin except you…”
“Weird…” Donna replied with a smile. “At least it was just a dream…”