//------------------------------//
// Unforeseen Encounter 
// Story: The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope 
// by Wings of Black Glass 
//------------------------------//

“Some of you know part of what I’m about to say.  But I’m going to start at the beginning so that everyone knows it all.  It all started, some months ago… wait, no.  It wasn’t all that long ago from your point of view.  A week ago, maybe a little more, I think?  Anyway, Spike and I were in town one morning…”





“Twilight!  Spike!”  I looked up from my breakfast at the cafe and saw Pinkie Pie waving at us.  We waved back, and she came over outright bouncing with each step.
“Pinkie, good morning.  Would you care to join us?”  I nibbled on my salad.
“Sure!”  She joined us at the table, ordering an orange juice.  
“So, what are you up to this morning?”
“I was looking for something interesting.”  She downed her drink quickly when it arrived.
“You could be a little more specific.”  Spike rolls his eyes.
“No, I couldn’t.”  I blinked in mild confusion.  “My Pinkie sense was telling me I would run into something interesting.”  That explained it.
“Have you found it yet?”
“You two could count.”  She giggled, and I smiled.  “But no, nothing yet.  I passed by Carousel Boutique earlier, and it was closed.  Do you know where Rarity is?”
“She and Fluttershy were sent to Manehatten yesterday by the map.”
“Applejack?”
“Off in Appleoosa.”
“Rainbow Dash?”
“Off at practice with the Wonderbolts, you know that.”
“Oh right.”  She stuck out her tongue and tapped her head.  “Pinkie Pie?”
“…That’s you,” Spike deadpanned, and Pinkie giggled as I facehoofed.  We spent a few more minutes talking about the goings-on around town, and our plans for the days ahead when suddenly Pinkie shivered and twitched.
“There goes my Pinkie sense again.  I should get going so I can find this interesting something.”
“All right, we’ll see you later.”  I waved as she bounded away around the corner.  “Well, Spike, we should get back to the Castle.”  I had barely looked away when I heard her shout in surprise and something like glass shattered.  “Pinkie, are you alright?”  I jumped around the corner to see if she was hurt.  Splayed out on the ground in front of me was a stunned-looking Pinkie Pie and an unfamiliar black pony tangled together where they had collided.  A bunch of pears from a dropped bag rolled away from them.  I didn’t see any broken glass; I wasn’t sure what it was I heard, but I thought I saw a shimmer in the air which reminded me of the afterimage of a broken spell.
“Woo, I’m OK!”  Pinkie leaped back to her feet.  “Looks like I was being literal!”  Then she giggled and laughed.  I turned my attention to the unfortunate pony on the ground while Spike started picking up the spilled fruit.  I thought the stallion was black, in truth, he was a purple Unicorn, his color a few shades darker than mine.  It turned out he was actually wearing a long black coat that reached all the way to his hooves, I thought it was an odd choice considering how fine the weather was.
“Of course…”  He blinked, shaking off the daze of the impact and glared up at Pinkie.  “It would be you.”  The stallion sighed as he picked himself up off the dirt, stumbling slightly when he put weight on his right foreleg.  He glared down at his hoof and frowned, but didn’t seem seriously injured.  Once he was standing, I could see his mane was almost midnight black and shot through with a streak of neon blue.
“Are you hurt?”  He turned his eyes to me; they shared their shade with the streak of blue in his mane.  His gaze dropped away after only an instant, he didn’t seem willing to meet me eye to eye.
“Only my pride, and my pears.”  One by one he began to lift the pears from the ground and returned them to his bag, his magic aura glows the same blue as his eyes.
“I’m Twilight…”  I was about to finish introducing myself when he interrupted me.
“I know who you are.”  He didn’t seem at all impressed, which I thought was a bit unusual.
“Sorry about that meet-cute,” Pinkie piped up, extending out a hoof in apology.  The purple Unicorn in the black coat only grumbled wordlessly and turned away, refusing to meet the proffered hoof and snatching the last of his fruit from Spike’s outstretched hands.  “Bye then.”  Pinkie Pie waved after the slowly retreating pony, and I noticed that he didn't hold his head as high as most others.  I could tell he kept his eyes down to the road.
“Well that was rude, he wouldn’t even accept your apology!”  Spike frowned, hands on his hips.
“That's OK.”  Pinkie beat the side of her head, shaking a bit more dust from her mane.  “He’s just like that.”
“You know him?”  I returned my attention to Pinkie as the stallion wandered away.
“Nope.  Not really.”  She giggled again.  “But I’ve bumped into him a few times.”
“I thought you knew everypony who lived in Ponyville?”  Spike raised an inquisitive eyebrow towards her.
“I do.”  Pinkie jumped a bit as she protested, and I spotted some books on the ground behind her.  “He doesn’t count.”  I picked them off the ground as Pinkie continued, cleaning dust and dirt off the covers, books shouldn’t be treated so shamefully.
“Of course he does, you can’t just pick and choose who counts.”  I glanced at the titles; an old spellbook containing spells I long ago mastered, a science fiction novel, and a gardening guide.  “Do you think he dropped these?”  I held them up for Pinkie to see.
“Maybe, I think so?”
“We should really return them to him,” suggested Spike.  I turned back to chase after the Unicorn but didn’t see him anymore.  I trotted off in the direction he was going, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Did either of you see which way he went?”
“No, sorry.”  Spike shrugged.
“Well, I know where he lives, we can drop them off before I head back to the shop.”
“Oh?  I thought you didn’t know him?”  I tilted my head a bit, mildly confused.
“He’s got a little house just on the outermost edge of the Everfree Forest, outside town limits.  So he doesn’t count.”
“That’s a technicality.  And you know this how?”  I affixed a curious eye on my pink friend.
“I may have followed him home once by accident.”  Pinkie had the decency to look a little sheepish as she answered.
“How did you manage to follow someone by accident?” wondered Spike, scratching his head again.
“The first time I ran into him, or maybe the second?  Third?  Anyway, I was trying to get him to talk to me all the way there until he shut the door in my face.”  She giggled again.  “Gave me splinters.  I looked around, and there I was.  I can show you where it is if you want.”
“My schedule is light today.  I’m in no hurry to get back.”  I gestured for her to show us the way.  “Lead on.”





“Oh yeah, I remember that!”
“Pinkie, don’t interrupt her.”
“That’s alright.  I imagine you’ll have lots of questions after I get past the early parts.  I’ll try to explain if something is confusing.”