Masked Mare

by Neobahamut

6 scoops of sand

Under the faint light of princess Luna’s Moon, a Little wagon pulled by an old Buffalo was slowly climbing a hill. Step by step, the old beast made its way through the irregular path, announcing to the wagon's passenger their next destination.

"Ponyville lays ahead". He said in a raspy voice

There was no answer from the passenger, so he reiterated, "We're about to get to Ponyville, and I hope you pay me as we arranged"

There was still no answer from inside the wagon, so; finally fed up with his passenger he decided to be a little more direct this time. He unbuckled the harnes and slowly made his way to the back door of the wagon, there wasn't any lamp turned on, yet, he heard movement inside.

Three ... fillies ... made ... suffer

The old beast heard strange whispers coming from the wagon but they didn't make much sense, curiosity got the best of him and decided to stick his ear against the door.

Four is for those who took me away...

The buffalo didn't understand what was all that about, so he peeked over a small window in the door, there he saw the silhouette of his passenger, a little unicorn pony, pouring a scoop of sand into something that looked like an hourglass.

Five is for the story I want to change...

The unicorn mare emptied another scoop of sand inside the hourglass

And six is to make way for the one that will make it possible...

As soon as she poured last of the sand into the hourglass, it started shaking and growling as if it was some kind of beast laying over the table. The old buffalo started retreating, however, he froze in place when he felt a little tap on his shoulder.

"Don't you have any manners, sir?" said the unicorn showing a crooked smile, her eyes were glowing in a ghostly white, and she was floating in order to be eye level with her driver. "Its rude to spy on a lady"

---

Fluttershy got up early in the morning to start her daily routine, way before any of her little friends woke up, she liked it that way, se was able to surprise all the animals in her cottage with a delicious breakfast already served.

First she served food in many plates, and she got sure to leave them by the entrance of their homes.

"This is for you Mr. mousey, oh and this is for you Ms. Squirrel" she talked to herself since they were asleep.

She then went outside in order to feed her chickens, the yellow pegasus had to be extremely silent to do this because they were easily scared, especially since Elizabeak had an encounter with the cockatrice on the Everfree forest. Fluttershy slowly opened the door when a powerful sound u the chickens to run everywhere.

"HI!" a pretty energetic pink pony appeared out of nowhere greeting her friend covered in feathers.

"um... hi pinkie." she answered on a little voice almost impossible to hear. Fluttershy heard that noise again, sounded like somepony was using fireworks. "What's happening?"

"Ahh! Don't you know?, she's here, she's here she's here she's here!! it was a long time ago she came, and I was like Ooohh, and everypony else was also like GASP" pinkie said faking a surprised face.

"Who is here? if um, if I may ask?"

"Who else, Clockwork!"

"Clockwork?" asked Fluttershy.

"You know, Clockwork, THE Clockwork?" Fluttershy just looked confused to her friends’ reaction "I mean she is the most famous merchant on all Equestria, she always brings the most super duper candy from the east, west, north, north east, east south..."

Fluttershy just smiled, she didn't want to disappoint her friend, but she actually was oblivious to this pony 'Clockwork', so she tried to change the subject. "So, um, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I just wait."

"Wait for what?"

"My turn" answered the pink pony very proud.

"Your turn?"

"Yep"

"For?" the yellow pegasus didn't finished her question when she noticed that, just a few meters away from pinkie pie, there was an almost endless line of ponies that appeared to end into the town's main center.

"Told you she was famous" Added Pinkie Pie with a smile on her face.

"Pinkie Pie!" A blue Pegasus further in the line shouted. "we wont keep your place if you don't come quickly"

"Uh Uh, Fluttershy, wanna come?" Added the Pink pony.

"um, I don't, I mean I have to." Fluttershy looked at Pinkie's enthusiasm, her big smile, her bright and wide blue eyes...

---

Fluttershy saw the travelling merchant's Spectacle, and how she appeared to have anything a pony would want, from flasks filled to the brim with fruits and jam, fabric and some amazing dresses, even books and toys were in display near Clockwork's wagon.

"Welcome Everypony, and look what I, Clockwork have to Offer!" said a small unicorn mare leaping in front of the six friends. Her appearance was very peculiar, she had a gray coat and a white mane, which completely contrasted with her black colored tail, and for an adult mare, she was pretty small, her eyes where at Twilight’s nose level. However what stood out the most was her cutie mark, a white big cogwheel connected to a black smaller one.

"Hi Clockwork, its been a while" Greeted Twilight Sparkle.

"Why yes Twilight Sparkle, but I just had to return to Ponyville, its my favorite town after all" replied Clockwork, "And also I couldn't go without showing you THIS" through her magic the gray unicorn lifted an old book in front of Twilight.

"Twilight, is something wrong?" asked Fluttershy worried.

"I..It can't be..." She took a closer look to the book and stood paralyzed for several seconds.

"Don't worry Fluttershy" said Pinkie in a comforting tone. "This happens every time"

"THE BOOK OF MYSTIC CREATURES AND LEGENDS FROM EQUESTRIA!!" yelled the ecstatic purple Unicorn "This isn't even in Canterlot Libraries!!"

Her friends kept talking to the merchant while the yellow Pegasus browsed around the wagon, however a strange sound got her attention, it sounded like somepony was crying behind the wagon.

"Pinkie, do you hear that?" whispered Fluttershy, however nopony reacted. "Twilight, Rainbow?" she insisted however the rest of her friends, but strangely, not one of them seemed to notice her.

"I..I don't want to.." said the crying voice, Fluttershy decided to go see whom it was, as it didn't sound threatening at all, "She's too frail, she wont be able to use It.." the yellow Pegasus finally turned around the corner and saw who was crying. Far from her, almost in the opposite corner of the wagon she saw the back of a yellow earth pony mare, with a long pink mane and tail.

Fluttershy gasped, that pony was almost an exact copy of herself, or at least it looked like it from where she was standing. Decided to know a little more about that mysterious pony. "Um, excuse me, why are you crying?"

"I.. I'm sorry..." said the earth pony without even looking at Fluttershy. "I failed.."

"Uh?"

"I know you are a lot like me."

"I.. um I don't understand"

"That's why I didn't want to impose this into you."

"What?"

"I'm Sorry" the earth pony started getting up and walk towards Fluttershy, she looked a lot like her except for the fact that she was an earth pony, however, with each step she took, her body started dissolving into a huge cloud of black smoke. The small Pegasus stood in shock while her little doppelganger was turning into a bigger and more menacing entity, by the time she reacted and tried to run, the entity swoop down engulfing the scared Pegasus. She tried to scream but as soon as she opened her mouth the whole cloud forced itself down her throat.

Ah, I’m going to die, I'm Going to die, I’M GONNA DIE!! was all the little Pegasus could think while she felt that presence inside of her, she tried with all her strength to gasp for air, but she just passed out.

"Fluttershy"

The pony tried to get up but she didn't have any strength to do so.

"Fluttershy, are you OK?"

Fluttershy made an effort to open her eyes, She was on her bed surrounded by her friends who looked at her worried, and she just nodded yes.

"What happened sugarcube? ya' passed out rite there in front of Clockwork. We were worried." said Applejack

Fluttershy thought for an instant, maybe she didn't saw all that, probably all that happened was just a bad dream, so she wouldn't want her friends to worry about something like that. "Um, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" said Twilight.

"Yes, I probably just need to eat something."

"Wow, you're lucky" added Pinkie pie "Clockwork felt wanted you to get better so much she gave you this" Pinkie pointed to a Cuckoo clock hanging on Fluttershy's wall. "What do you think?, do you like it?, uh uh uh?"

"Well, its nice of her."

"Come on girls, we should let her rest" Said Rarity guiding the rest out of the room, "Oh and Fluttershy, when you are feeling better please do show me where you got that necklace, its simply divine"

"Um I'm not wearing a..." Fluttershy Looks down and saw the peculiar piece of jewelry hanging from het neck.

---

Later that night Rarity was locked on her boutique, she had bought a special fabric from the griffin country, and she wanted to create a new dress but the ideas weren't flowing as natural as she wanted them.

"Come on" said to herself "show me your true self" She rolled the fabric extending it over her table. The fabric had magnificent designs that looked almost as if someone had cut a piece of the day sky and pasted into de fabric. It was celestial blue with random patterns that mimicked the clouds on a sunny day.

“There has to be a good design within you, I just need to-"

One is for the ponies that never helped me…

The color of the fabric started changing from a sky blue to a depressing gray, the clouds started turning black and resembled more the beginning of a storm.

“What’s this? “ Rarity approached to her fabric looking at the changing designs of it, “This isn’t supposed to happen” the clouds where moving, and were those lightning’s coming from the cloud designs?. She tried to touch the fabric but she panicked when she saw that her hoof went through it.

"This, isn't happening" said Rarity in disbelief "I'm probably just tired that’s all", She tried to roll up the fabric with her magic, however it refused to be manipulated. "Come on, don't be such a dumb fabric" the long fabric slowly stood up and started to spin, and spin faster with each turn.

"This isn't happening" Said Rarity again trying to reassure herself, when she noticed that she was getting pulled into that roll of fabric, which now resembled a whirlwind more than ever. Desperate she tried to hold herself into her doorknob with magic.

"HELP!!" Rarity yelled hoping somepony would hear her "SOMEPONY!! PLEA-CRACK" the door was ripped from its hinges throwing the white unicorn into oblivion...

---

“uuuhhh, whets inside this one?” Said the excited pink pony opening a box, She had bought plenty of pastries of all over Equestria and had had them packed on different boxes without knowing what was in each box, she adored surprises and this was her favorite way to surprise herself

“Hmmm Cupcakes!! I wonder why they have such a bad reputation?”

Two is for the town I hate the most…

“An what about his one” as soon as pinkie opened the box, it exploded in a rain of confetti and streamers “Wow” she said surprised. “Well then, next box… ” Pinkie noticed something weird, her bed was now covered in confetti, and it still kept raining over her. “That’s weird”, she tried to get another box but that one also exploded filling her room further.

“Wait, I think I need to open the…” The pink pony tried to open her door, however it wouldn't budge. “What?” another box exploded adding pound after pound of colorful paper, which now reached up to Pinkie’s head, She frantically tried to reach a window when the last box exploded.

With her room now filled with confetti Pinkie could still feel how it kept multiplying, how every single space was getting covered in confetti, and how she felt her body disappear inside that multicolored mess…

---

Rainbow dash was happy with her buy, an autographed poster and goggles worn by Spitfire, her favorite Wonderbolt, and wearing that dear accessory she was practicing her tricks until late night.

Three is for the fillies that made me suffer…

“Ok, last one” said the blue Pegasus adjusting her goggles. “This is for the Wonderbolts!!” Rainbow dash shot up in the night sky trying to beat her altitude record when an orange blur passed next to her. “Huh?” she wiped her goggles and saw an orange Pegasus with a fiery mane waving at her many meters below.

“Spitfire?” the orange Pegasus below only made a sign. “I can’t believe it, Spitfire is here!!” said Dash as the other Pegasus pointed at a distant cloud and started flying towards it. “Spitfire is here and just challenged me to a race!!” added Rainbow Dash flying after her hero.

Even if Dash was a lot nearer to the cloud Spitfire quickly flew past her leaving an orange trail behind her. "OK Dash, it's time to show her what you are made of." She flew the fastest she could, however her hero never seemed to stop. Dash pushed herself even harder until she was to the left of her, almost at the same speed. "See?" she said gasping for air and making an effort to not lose her speed "I'm even faster than what I-" without any warning, Spitfire turned left making dash go straight trough her orange trail.

"AHHH!!" it burned, what the blue pegasus thought was just an illusion of how fast was spitfire flying had hurt her. And it got when she looked back. Each and every trail left by Spitfire was still there, shining in the night sky like a wall of fire. "She trapped me? Why would she do that?" the orange blur did a quick turn and charged against Rainbow Dash, she closed her wings in order to drop fast into the ground. "I have to get away, I have to get away fast!!"

"Why Rainbow Dash?" asked Spitfire appearing just below the blue pegasus. "I thought you were my Number 1 fan". The pegasus held Rainbow Dash in a powerful grab.

"LET ME GO!!" yelled rainbow trying to release herself, the body of Spitfire felt like putting a hoof in the fire.

"Would you like to fly with me?" Added the pegasus with a malicious smile as both of them ignited in the air leaving only a trail of ashes behind...

---

"What are ya doin sis?" asked the small yellow earth pony to her older sister while she took out some strange fruit out of a basket.

"Just some experimentin Applebloom" said while watching the green and prickly fruit in front of her nose. "Clockwork said this, um prickly thingy was pretty easy to grow an' one of the most delicious fruits in Equestria."

"Soo? Are ya gonna replace apples?"

"Nah, it just may help us to get more money to tha far-OUCH!" Applejack raised her right front hoof in the air

"What happened, are yah OK?"

"Nuttin to worry lil sis, ah think ah just got a thorn in mah hoof"

"It's bleeding."

"Ah said is nuttin, a lil thorn never killed anypony"

Applebloom's face lighted with excitement, "Sis! Let me heal it!, let me heal it!, Ah could be a CUTIEMARK CRUSADER NURSE!!" said the energetic little pony running to look for the first aid kit.

four is for those who took me away...

"Aw shucks! Ah might just play along, now lets see how is this" Applejack tried moving her hoof however it was paralyzed. "What in tarnation!" she tried to move it with all of her strength until she hears a loud crack. There was a huge thorn coming out of her hoof as also were many little prickly vines wrapping around her leg. "APPP!!" her cry for help fell mute as she felt those vines coming out of her throat. She felt all of her limbs going numb, and saw the spines poking out of everywhere in her body...

"Sis?" Applebloom returned minutes later, her sister was nowhere to be found. There were just some of those prickly fruits lying in the floor.

---

Five is for the story I want to change...

Twilight was on her bed immersing on the reading of her new book, she always enjoyed the company of a good book, and this one being extremely rare, was more than she expected.

"Wow, this Tirek is scary, even I have problems believing how he got beat" said to herself. "I never thought that Equestria had such interesting creatures, even though I've never seen them" Twilight turned the page and saw the title of the next Chapter. "Twilight Sparkle?".

Apart from the title, there wasn't any word on the chapter, or in the next page, or the page after that one. There was nothing but a bunch of blank pages from that page on. Twilight kept turning the pages in order to see if there really wasn’t anything written on that book. "Maybe is in invisible Ink?" said a frustrated unicorn using her magic on the book, each revealing, discovering and truth spells were casted on it, and however none of them yielded any results.

"AHHH!!" Twilight tossed the book aside "I need some rest." said the purple mare disappointed, "I think I'll take a bath and call it a night". However when Twilight tried to stand up she felt something pretty weird. her legs weren't strong enough to support her, in fact they looked kind of "Flat?? My mind must be playing tricks on me. I'll just-" however Twilight wasn’t able to stand up, In fact the strange sensation of her legs started extending on her body. She tried to do magic, but this proved useless when her horn started bending as if it was made of paper.

"NO, NO!!" Twilight saw how the book she tossed aside started levitating into her bed and opening in the page of Twilight Sparkle words started appearing on said chapter as the Unicorn started getting pulled into the book fusing her into the pages of the rare tome.

---

Inside of a dimly lit wagon happy gray unicorn looked at six little flasks of glass on her table, from 1 to 5 were filled with sand of different colors, going from white to dark purple, with other colors like pink, orange and blue found in between them.

"My dream is about to come true" said the mysterious clockwork while looking at the sixth flask

And six is to make way for the one that will make it possible...

Comments

[Agai_Lazen]

Interesting. I'm guessing the sand motif is what came from Den-0? Please post more!

[Neobahamut]

25846
I'm working on chapter 2, I hope to finish it soon.

[girlskunkfluttershy]

When you will be done with 2 chapter.

[BioniclesaurKing4t2]

Not the most stellar grammar at times, but I can see an interesting story underneath it, so I'll keep reading.