//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Puppet Master and Moving in 
// Story: Equestria’s White Fang 
// by Garnet Naturea 
//------------------------------//

After a goods nights dreamless sleep, I wake just before dawn and decide to take a shower and make some breakfast for the others. Going in to kitchen and checking the fridge, I take out some veggies like carrots, celery, tomatoes, and some eggs. Getting everything ready I begin to make some omelettes for us. After putting the eggs and milk into a pan and start cooking, I hear a pair of feet walking down the stairs. Looking away from the pan for a second I see Spike walking in with a yawn. He sees me cooking breakfast and has to do a double take.

“Adam? What are you doing?” He asks in confusion.

“Making veggie omelettes for breakfast. I figure I might as well make you guys some food till we get the house ready. Oh! Can you put on the coffee maker?” I tell and ask. He raises a scaly brow for a second before shrugging and turning the machine on. I remember last night Spike was eating a cupcake with some gemstones in it so I found a mix of gem dust and sprinkle it into his omelette. Once they are all done, I plate them and make some coffee for us. Just in time too as I hear a pair of hooves walking down the stairs.

Twilight looks into the dining room groggily and sees Spike sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and then sees me as I am brining the food and drinks out with my magic and cleaning things. She stares for a second then does a double take like Spike at seeing the situation.

“Spike? Adam? What is going on?” She asks in confusion as she sits in her chair and sees her omelette and coffee.

“Oh, Adam decided to make breakfast this morning as thanks for us letting him stay the night.” Spike says, putting the paper down and taking a sip of his coffee. Twilight looks to me with a raised brow as she takes a sip of her coffee as well.

“I figure I might as well be the polite one and make something for us to eat. I didn’t want to back to sleep and make Rarity and Spike wait because I fell back to sleep.” I say as I take my seat after cleaning the dishes and we all begin to eat. The duo take one bite then begin to wolf down their omelettes with huge smiles. I just chuckle at their reactions and eat my food casually. After they finish up their food they put their dishes away Twilight begin to clean them while Spike and I get ready to head to the gem range.

“Kay Twilight, Spike and I are headed out! We’ll be back later. Can you and the girls met us at the house later?” I call to her as I get my jacket and sword.

“Sure thing! Also be aware that Rarity will probably want you and Penny to come over later to get measured so she can make you two some new clothes.” She calls back, just finishing up the dishes. 

Going outside, Spike goes around the back and pulls out an empty wheelbarrow for me to use as he said Rarity has her own wagon for herself. We walk through the early morning town, seeing a few ponies here and there opening up stands. Once we make it to the Boutique, we find Rarity and Pyrrha standing outside of the building and Pyrrha is actually in some casual clothes. She is wearing a red t-shirt and yellow skirt with a denim jacket and her boots. The duo spots us as we walk up.

“Good morning you two! Thank you two so much for agreeing to accompany me to the range. The last thing I want is for those filthy Diamond Dogs to show up again.” Rarity says to us. I look to Spike and raise a brow.

“Long story short, we went on a gem hunt a while back and Rarity got foalnapped by some diamonds dogs who wanted her for her spell of locating gems underground. She ended up actually complaining her way to freedom.” Spike says with a disappointed sigh. I just raise a brow again before shaking my head and turning to Pyrrha.

“Morning Pyrrha. Like the new look of yours.” I tell her. She just smiles and leans against the building.

“Yes, well Rarity was kind enough to make some new clothes for me so I didn’t have to wear my armor all the time. Though it will be rather interesting to see what she has planned for you and Penny.” She says with a smirk, and I can’t help but get a little worried. 

After that, me, Spike and Rarity all head out to the edge of town, on our way to the range. Once we made it to the edge of town I put my jacket on and placed a hand on my sword. We walk through the forest for a few minutes before arriving at what looks like a quarry with a bunch of holes in and around it. Rarity lights up her horn and seemed to use it like a dowsing rod. Once she finds a spot she marks it with an X and Spike digs in to the dirt with his claws until he finds the cache of gems. 

While those two are doing their thing, I am keeping an eye on the perimeter, making sure no animals or Grimm show up. It is while I am looking around I spot something odd at the base of a tree. Walking over, I find it is a blank white mask without any real details on it. Picking it up, I quickly get a headache and hear a voice I have never heard before.

I am the Puppet Master, forger of masks, and teller of stories through literal puppetry. The tragic and misunderstood are my allies, and those who would do the true evils my enemies. Those wishing to teach a lesson, or need a story told, will find my nature of value.

I jump back with a gasp and drop the mask. Looking around, I see no one nearby aside from Rarity and Spike, the duo still hard at work. Confused, I pick the mask back up and the message doesn’t go off again. I look the mask over and see nothing special about it, but I do sense a strong magical connection attached to it.

‘Weird. It this some kind of summoning item like in SPTST? (South Park: The Stick of Truth)’ I decide to hook the mask to the side of my sheath and go back to the others. I’ll check what this can do when Penny and Pyrrha are nearby for extra protection in case this thing is dangerous. 

After a couple hours Rarity has the gems she needs for her outfits, Spike has some for his own consumption and I have the wheelbarrow full of a variety of gems I can go through back at my soon-to-be home. The walk back to town was quiet as there were no monsters or Grimm and just the occasional squirrel or bird going by. 

Though I did notice a crow following us a bit before flying off.

We made it back to town within a few minutes and Rarity and Spike went ahead to her boutique to put her gems away and to bring some clothes she made me, Penny and Pyrrha. Heading to the house, I find the girls and a few worker stallions with things like the beds, cabinets for clothes, as well as several shopping bags with dishes and food. 

“Hey Adam! Wow! You got a lot of gems!” Penny says as I walk up with my haul. I just smile and begin to pick through the pile of gems and find a piece of purple quartz. 

“This will definitely be useful. I wonder what we could make with these gems aside from jewelry and to power the generator.” I say aloud with a thoughtful expression on my face.

“Well, I was reading through one of the gemmology books Twilight gave us, and I think these gems can theoretically work as a step down and more natural version of Dust. So technically we could use them for making ammunition for our weapons or for other projects.” Pyrrha says, putting away a book she was reading through. I think for a minute as Penny looks to me and notices the mask I found.

“Hey Adam? What is that mask you have there?” She asks, pointing to the mask on my sheath. I look to it and take it in my hand.

“I am not a hundred percent sure. I found this mask when I was guarding Spike and Rarity. Once I picked it up I got a headache and heard someone calling themself the Puppet Master. I thought that maybe this could be some kind of a summoning tool. I decided to bring it with me so that you two would be near in case whoever, or whatever comes through is dangerous, we can work together and subdue them.” The group looks a little worried and Pyrrha and Penny nod with serious expressions.

I take a few steps away and look at the mask for a moment before focusing my aura onto it.  

‘Puppet Master, come forth.’

The mask begins to glow and spin out of my hand and a portal appears in front of me. I grab my katana, Penny extends a few of her swords and Pyrrha gets her shield and spear ready as the ponies stay back. We wait for a few second all set to fight some sort of giant monster of a storyteller.

Image our surprise when some short guy in slightly scorched robes fell face first out of the portal, followed by several cosplay masks. We all raise a brow at him before a large, what looks like, crafting kit falls through and on top of him, causing him to yell in pain. We all wince at this.

“Yeah, he is going to be feeling that tomorrow.” One of the stallions nearby says. We nod at this as the man begins to right himself. Just looking at him I notice he is wearing a pair of white gloves with an odd symbol on the back. They look familiar, but I can’t place it.

 

“Ow! Damnit, I really need to find a new way to get summoned aside form getting literally ripped from home.” He mutters to himself. Getting up, he is barely taller than half my height. And I thought Lex was short! Though when I saw his ‘face’ I tensed up. His face was covered by a mask with the eyes being two orbs of blue fire and from his slightly open mouth, I can see his tongue is the same blue fire as his eyes. 

“Are you the Puppet Master?” I ask him, hand still on my sword. He sees this and raises his hands in defence.

“Woah, calm down dude. You are the one summoned me. No need to go off the rails.” He says before hunching over and quickly straightens his back with a loud crack. Some of the mare cringe at this. Penny walks up and stands beside me and looks the short person over.

“Are you a human? Or a Faunus?” She asks, the Puppet Master looking to her in confusion. (I think, no eyebrows)

“Yes, I am human. What is a Faunus?” He questions and begins to gather the masks that came with him. I walk over and pick up the large craft kit and noticed there is some sort of marionette attached to it.

“I am. Faunus are basically humans with animal like features. Most have things like horns, animal ears, senses and even scales.” I explain to him as I bring his kit over to him. He nods in understanding and thanks then looks past me and Penny and sees the others, and frowns slightly.

“Oh great the Elements. Guess you are one of their friends?” He says with slight distaste. I raise a brow at him.

“Yes I am. We met after I protected the town from a Grimm attack. What is with the tone little dude?” I ask him. He just takes a breath and sighs.

“Sorry. I haven’t been having a great time with my version of the Elements aside from Rainbow. And even then, it is only because she ‘works’ for me.” He explains. The girls and I raise our brows at him.

“Well, let me be the first to welcome you here to my home. My name is Adam Taurus.” I say holding out my hand. He cautiously reached forwards and shakes my hand before looking to Penny and Pyrrha. “Those two are Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos.” I lean down to his ear. “They are characters from the show RWBY and they both died in their world. The gods of their world decided it was not their time and sent them here.” He looks to me with widened eyes.

“Nice to meet all of you. I go by Puppet Master in my home but that is just a title and alias. My name is Xander.” He says with a fiery smile. The others nod to him, still slightly unsure.

“Sal-u-tations Xander!” Penny says with her smile and tone. Xander laughs a little at her response. He noticed the sword levitating behind her and then to Pyrrha, who used some of her magnetism to put her spear and shield on her back.

“Wow, you three look like your ready for a fight.” He says with a chuckle.

“Of course. It the duty of the Huntsman and huntresses to be ready at any time to fight and protect the innocent from the Grimm.” Pyrrha says, picking her book back up. 

“Grimm?” he asks. I quickly give him a rundown on what the Grimm are and their capabilities and the dangers they represent. He listens intently, and gains an intrigued look on his face. “I wonder if I could use some Grimm puppets.” He says to himself.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. The Grimm lack souls and are only driven to hunt and kill humans, Faunus, and Ponies. Most captured Grimm don’t even last a day.” I tell him. He just waves it off with a smile.

“I don’t mean to catch any Grimm.” He says before taking out a mask that looked like Bowser from the Super Mario Bros. Series. “Before I was sent to Equestria I was a prop and costume creator. Once I was brought to Equestria I gained the power to have any of my props I make act like they do in their stories. And my masks...” he trailed off with a smile and put the mask on.

We all step back as he begins to glow and grow. After a second we are no longer looking at a short man and instead a very large dragon-like turtle with extremely spiky shell and orange hair.

“When I make a mask, any who wear them will turn into the characters and gain their powers.” Xander explains, his voice now deep and scratchy voice of Bowser. We all look to him in shock until a smile breaks across my face.

“That is awesome!” I say, snapping the others out of their reverie and most agreeing. He smile before glowing and shrinking back to normal. He looks to us and gives a stage bow to us. 

“Thank you, thank you. It is nice to see my powers not seen as a threat for a change.” He says and notices all the supplies outside of the house. “So what is going here?” 

“Oh, me, Penny and Pyrrha are going to be moving into this house for a while so we needed to refurnish it. Your welcome to stay and help if you want.” I say to him, taking my jacket off and getting ready to work. Xander looks to me and seems to get an idea.

“Hey Adam?” I look to him. “How about a trade? Like I said, I can make almost anything with my prop kit and tools, and I am starting to hit a block in terms of coming up with tragic villains to add to my force. If you want, how about I make you something and in exchange, you write down a list of tragic villains and their backstories for me?” 

I think for a minute before remembering what Pyrrha and I talked about earlier with the gems. Taking out my scroll I find some blueprints my older sister Sarah made for a pair of Yang’s Ember Celica for her own cosplay for the next RTX. I give my scroll with the image of the blueprints to Xander. 

“Do you think you could make these?” I ask him. He takes the scroll and goes over the blueprints with critical eyes, seeing all the separate parts of the shotgun gauntlets.

“Hmmm...give me an hour or two and I could make the actual weapon, the problem though would be with the ammunition. I am no blacksmith nor am I a gem carver.” I smile to him as he says that.

“Actually, I have a plan/experiment in mind for the ammo. I have a workshop in the basement of the house you can use of you need a quiet environment.” I offer him and he nods, taking his tools and stuff inside, quickly finding the workshop. 

Once Xander begins his task, having summoned a couple of wooden puppets to help, the rest of us begin getting the house ready. Taking the beds and stuff to each of our rooms separately, the mare putting all the dishes and food away for us, and some of the stallions double checking the plumbing and electric connections throughout the house. Once done, I sit at my new desk and begin to write out some characters I can think of from internet games and internet based shows including a physical description.

Chara Dreemur, Geno Sans, Buddy, Xtale Sans AKA Cross, Handsome Jack, and a few others from games and internet shows. But as I was thinking of them something popped into my head. Creepypasta. These characters and monsters all have their own stories and most are tragic and gruesome. With that in mind, I begin to write about several Creepypasta characters.

The Puppeteer, Ticki Toby, the Bloody Painter, the eyeless girl/fog daughter AKA Lulu, little Lazari, Nathan the Nobody, Lost Girl. The last one I wrote about Lost Girl, while not a villain, could make for a good lesson on family and abuse. After writing a few more characters I get a knock at my door.

“It’s open!” I call out, the door opening to reveal Xander with a pair of red and black Ember Celica in his hands. I smile and walk over to him with the list I wrote. Taking the new weapons I put them on and with a flick of my write they retract into two large bracelets. I smile and flick my arms forward and they extend again to their full size. Xander looks through my list of characters with widening eyes.

“Wow. I haven’t even heard of some of these characters before. These guys could be useful for some lessons.” He says in thought. I smile and tap his shoulder for him to follow. Going to the study and grabbing a couple of magic books, we head to the workshop again. I take out my shotgun sheath and unload a shell. I checked earlier and found I only had five shots left. Taking a few tools out I take the shell apart, carefully putting the buckshot and gunpowder and other things into their own spots then look through the books looking for a specific spell. 

“What are you looking for?” Xander asks. I don’t respond immediately before finding what I need. 

“This.” I say as I show him the page with the spell I was looking for. The page shows the instructions on how to use a duplication spell, letting us use magical power into solid items. This is a rather advanced spell and takes quite a bit of magical energy. He looks to me in surprise. 

“You plan to use a duplication spell? That could work I guess, but you said you had an experiment to test.” He says in curiosity.

“I do. Do you have any material similar to the coating for the shells?” I ask him, earning a nod and Xander searching his tool box and pulling out some odd plastic material. I just nod and go through some of the gems I brought back and take out a bunch of topaz, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. 

Plugging in the air compressor and connecting some of the tools, I shave off the gems into dust and place them into the shells Xander makes. After a few minutes we make some shotgun belts with twelve shots each that can connect with the Ember Celica. Each shell is coloured to match their ammo type. Once we have one belt of 12 ready for each, Xander and I focus our magic and make five more of each before I almost pass out and my aura shatters. Xander seems to have way more magic than me as he is barely sweating. 

Attaching the ammo belts to my pants and putting everything away, we walk upstairs and find the girls all in the living room drinking tea and eating some sandwiches.

“Bout time you two! We were stating to get worried.” AppleJack says. The others look to me and Xander, seeing the fatigue on my face and the new shells.

“So, what was it you two made anyways?” Rainbow asks, munching on a sandwich. Me and Xander smirk and we motion for them to follow, going out the door. After walking for a bit we reach the edge of the forest. I extend my bracelets, Penny and Pyrrha recognizing the weapons, and load one topaz ammo and one ruby ammo in each and get ready.

“Here goes nothing!” I say and punch forward, the weapon firing off the ruby ammo and igniting the dead tree I was aiming at. I smile as the shell comes out before punching the other one, the topaz ammo landing and releasing electricity in a circle around it. I smile in glee and load the sapphire ammo and emerald ammo. Punching forward again, the sapphire freezes the blazing tree and and then the emerald shot, it releasing a miniature tornado.  

Once I finished my test, we all stay there for a second before me and Xander cheer. “WOOHOO!!” We laugh for a minute and give a high five.

“I cannot believe that worked! You just gave me all sorts of ideas for props.” Xander says, before digging into his robes and pulling out what looks like another list and holding it out to me. “This a maintenance manual and I left some spare parts in your room just in case. Be aware the more you have to repair the prop, the more it deteriorates.” I take the booklet and smile at him in thanks.

“Thanks for the help Xander. These should really come in hand with protecting others from the Grimm. Oh! How am I going to contact you if something happens or you to me?” I ask him.

“Just take out the mask you found and you can summon me. Though you should make your own token so I and any other Displacers can contact you if we need help.” he says. I nod and immediately take out my Grimm mask. I think for a minute before thinking of a creed like Xanders.

I am the sword of equality and fighter for the weak. If you find yourself cornered and too weak to fight, call on me and I will be there to protect you.

After thinking my creed I drop my mask into a portal that appeared before me, my mask coming back a second later. Another portal appears next to Xander and her gets a copy of my Grimm mask. 

“Alright. I probably won’t call you if I don’t have to, but be ready if I do. Now just say my contract is complete and I can go home.” He says and I nod to him.

“Puppet Master, our contract is complete.” After I say that another portal opens behind and below him so he waves to us and jumps in, returning to his own home.