//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Awkward Introductions // Story: Chaos Missionary // by Protoform66 //------------------------------// I woke up to find myself in a rope. I tried to move it only for it to glow and stop. “Don’t bother, that rope is enchanted.” A voice says. I look over to see a group of frowning ponies, minus one that was jumping and smiling. “Hey, dinner and a show first before you want to tie me up.” They all blushed deeply, and Pinkie was just giggling. “Silence! Where are the Elements!” Celestia yelled in my face. “Me no know. I just wanted out of the rock.” Pinkie jumped up to me. “HI!I’mPinkiePie,butyoucancallmePinkie,doyoulikeparties?What’syourfavoritetypeofcake?Areyouanalien?Aretheremoreofyou?Whyareyou…” She was silenced by Rainbow Dash before dragging her back. “Darling I must say your clothes are quite dreadful.” “I took them from a scarecrow.” “That explains a lot.” I only respond with a raspberry that appalls her and she scoffs. Fluttershy moved in to see me. She moved very carefully, I smiled under my mask, but it didn’t really help since it was shaped like a skull. “Are you ok? You seem hurt.” “No I’m fine pretty pony, just a bit hungry.” She blushed deeply before hiding behind her mane and walking off. “Can I go now?” “NO!” They shouted, except Fluttershy and Pinkie. I sighed as I moved around. “How could you be working with him?” Celestia says to me. “Because I was a statue, he became my friend and freed me.” “He’s not friends to anyone!” “Hmph. Stubborn pony.” Celestia groaned. She leaves me alone with a pair of guards as I could only smile. ‘This is going to be fun when they want to reform him and hopefully me.’ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Approximately 1½ episodes later, including commercials… “109 bottles of cider on the wall! 109 bottles of cider!!” The Guards were losing patience and were starting to twitch. ‘Someone make him stop…’ One guard says to himself. They were interrupted by the doors opening and walking down Celestia and her sister Luna. Luna was wearing a dress similar to Celestia, only it was like the night sky with her cutie mark on her chest and a DD chest. She stared at me before giggling. Before being banished I made Luna laugh with my pranks and making the Nobles look like idiots a few times. “Greetings Skull Kid. Art thou well?” “As always Luna.” I smiled Celestia only sighs before she nods to the guards as they bolt out to get away from my never-ending songs. Her horn glowed a second before she lets me out of my binds. I stand up and crack a few bones before start to dance around. “Ahhh. Feels great to be up and about again.” Celestia only grins before holding me in her magical grasp. “You’ll be happy to know that you are going to be one of the first reformed creatures in Equestria.” Celestia explains as she drags me out of the dungeons. I look over to see Luna still smiling as I’m taken outside. “So what are you going to do? Use the Elements I’m still here.” “No you are going to learn lessons in friendship from my student.” “You mean Sparkle?” “Ye… How do you know her name?” “Uh… Discord told me.” I smiled hoping they fall for it, can’t let them know the future, grinning like an idiot. She only stared a before sighing. “Very well imp, let’s take a chariot to Ponyville.” “It’s Skull Kid.” “Ugghh.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “So the Princess told us to meet her here?” Dash said with her arms crossed. “She said she was bringing a guest.” Pinkie was giggling getting her party cannon ready. “Maybe it’s royalty? Or a coltfriend!” “Pinkie, the Princess isn’t dating anyone.” “Look! Here they come!” The chariot lands as they see a brown blur jump out and roll on the grass. “Oh sweet nature, I never want to leave it!” “Skull Kid! Control yourself!” I jump up and shake off the grass. I then look over to see the shocked group of ponies. “Hello again.” “You!?” They all shout. “Me!” “This is the ‘special guest’?!” Twilight shouts. “I’m a special guest? Oh thanks Celestia didn’t know you cared.” “Quiet you. Celestia you can’t possibly think he’s safe to be out here.” “He has potential to be good, and maybe bring smiles to ponies if pointed in the right direction. He barely has any magic in him.” “Hey the magic I use is in my music and masks!” “Yes like how you caused day and night to change sporadically and make it rain when no clouds were around.” “I wanted to sleep a bit more, plus it was the desert, the locals appreciated it.” “Not when it was a giant mud bath!” “I didn’t know it wouldn’t stop without me playing the song again!” This peaked Twilight’s interest. A song that caused things like this to happen was a new type of magic she could possibly learn. “How did you do that? Only Pegasus can move clouds and cause rain.” RD states. “But do they know this song?” I pull out a blue ocarina to play one of my favorite tunes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkYEJXN2QWk Thunder crashes as it beings to storm. “And then I play it again…” The storm stops as if it was never there. They all look at me with weird expressions before I place it back in one of my pockets. “You’ll freeze like that if you leave your faces like that.” I laugh before sitting down. Twilight then bounded towards me with a spark in her eye. “You have to tell me how you did that!!” Dash also joined in, with an irritated but also intrigued look. The rest were indifferent, except for Rarity, she was complaining about her mane being ‘too frizzy’. Luna only giggled and added on. “As you can see, he is very mischievous, but he doesn’t really pose any threat.” Celestia only groaned at how many complaints she had to deal with and the paperwork that came with it from Skull Kid’s pranks. She had to deal with some vandalism to pricey dry cleaning after getting them wet. “Fluttershy, I want you to look after him first.” The group gasps as the yellow Pegasus behind her mane. She never thought that the first pony to look after him. He looked over and smiled. She blushed at the thought of when he called her pretty. ‘Maybe this won’t be too bad…’ “Well…ok… he can stay.” “Not to sound dramatic, but have you lost it Fluttershy?!” Rarity yelled as cam as she could. “Yeah, who knows what this creep has in his arsenal.” RD sates pointing at the duffle bag I was carrying behind me. “I have full faith in Fluttershy, if anyone can start the process of reformation, it’s her.” Celestia stated. “If anything goes wrong, you can use the Elements on him, and turn him back into stone.” The Bearers nodded. They looked back to see Luna and Skull Kid talking, while she’s laughing. ~~~~~~~ “No wait it gets better! So when the patient woke up, his skeleton was missing! And the doctor was never heard from again!” Luna was wheezing at his story. “Anyways… That’s how I lost my medical license.” She instantly stopped laughing to see if he was even joking, but not having a face had its perks. You had the greatest poker face. ~~~~~~~ Celestia clears her throat. “Now Skull Kid, you will be staying with Fluttershy as the first part of your reformation. The Bearers will be keeping their Elements on them at all times in case you cause trouble. Do you understand?” “Yeah yeah yeah… Be good, don’t be a nuisance while you’re staying with Fluttershy.” She sighs as she begins to depart. “Good luck my ponies.” Luna gives a small hug to Skull Kid. “We won’t let you down!” The group says. The Princesses smile before they turn and leave. I wave as they move off and see them looking at me with differing faces of interest. Twilight obviously wanted to ask me many questions, Applejack and Rainbow were frowning, Fluttershy was smiling a little bit under her mane, Rarity was indifferent, and Pinkie was… Pinkie. She grinned as she jumped in the air, and pulled out some cake. “Here have a ‘Welcome to Ponyville Imp Cake’!” I took a giant bite out of it and grinned. It was the greatest cake I could imagine, even if it was just plain chocolate, but this was just the start for Pinkie. “Welllll? Did you like it? Or did you reallllyyyyy like it?” She grinned. “I don’t like it.” Her man instantly deflates as she starts to frown. “I LOVE it!” This earns a big smile from her as she realizes the pun in my wording. “For a weird creature, you have a ‘debatable’ sense of humor.” Rarity says. I just continue to giggle. They roll their eyes as they decide to take me to Fluttershy’s home. Along the way I look around behind my mask to see ponies staring in awe or fear of the creature walking with them. I only wave as a few young colts and fillies wave back at the weird thing. The parents pull them away. Of course. When we arrive I see all sorts of animals flying, walking, or even lying about the home. My eyes instantly glow at the sight. ‘So many animals…’ “So… this is my home. Please make yourself comfortable… if you want…” ‘Why is she so adorable?” To be funny I use the random way and go through the small door for dogs, rabbits, etc. What I didn’t judge was my mask to fall off. I instantly panicked at my face felt naked without it. “Skull Kid!” Twilight shouts as they barge in thinking there was danger. All they found was a Skull Kid hiding partly under the couch. “Uhm what’re you doin’ there sugarcube?” “I can’t stand being without my mask!” RD starts to laugh. “It’s just a mask dude.” “JUST A MASK!? IT’S THE CLOSEST THING I HAVE TO A FACE!” I yell. The sudden loudness scared Fluttershy to hide behind the group. “Alright come out of there, it’s right here.” Applejack says as they pull me out, revealing I had a blanket tied to my face. “Alright take the blanket off silly filly.” Pinkie adds. They untie it to find a book held in my face. “And the book.” Twilight groans. They pull it off and gasp at the sight. My face was entirely black with only my glowing orange eyes and mouth. I look away and hide under my hat. The tension was thick as the group felt bad. “Is that why you wear a mask darling?” Rarity spoke. I only reply with a nod. This was strange, I wasn’t an imp, and yet I felt naked without some sort of face. Fluttershy rose above the group and went forward. “Hey… It’s ok… Here’s your mask back.” I smile softly before placing it back on my face. “Thank you…” I don’t know what came over me, but I hugged her, and she just hugged me back… kinda like a mother would to their child… I missed my family. The group smiles as I stood up and straightened it up. “Darling if you want a better mask, I could possibly make something for you at my boutique. And maybe something to fix those garbs.” “But I like them.” “That’s my point, I think you would better in a suit or something…” “Shiny?” “Yes!” I clap in glee that this won’t be the only outfit I’m stuck with, but I don’t know if Imps even took baths. “Uhh heads up buddy, you’ll be there for a while.” Rainbow whispers. I laugh as we begin introducing ourselves once more.