Chapter 3
You head out towards the town square, feeling like a total boss. You sold the mask, you got the money, and now all you need to do is find… the…
…Fuck, you have no idea where he is.
Well, there goes your good mood.
As you walk through the streets, you see the ponies slowly easing their way out of their houses, eyeing you with strange and perplexed expressions. My god, all the colors…
One of them walks up to you. She’s a mint-green pony with a… harp on her flank?
What the…?
“What exactly ARE you?” she asks, a bit cautiously.
“My name is Anonymous, and I’m a human.”
She eyes you up and down. “What’s your favorite food, Anonymous?”
“Oh, that’s easy. It’s bacon.”
…
It takes you a total of seven seconds to finally process what you just said. By that time, it’s too late; her eyes have widened and she steps back a few steps, before running off. She whispers something to another pony with a curly, orange mane, whose eyes also widen just as the first one did, and the word quickly spreads around before they all once again hurry back inside their houses.
…Nice going, Anonymous.
You sigh and shrug it off, continuing on your way to the outskirts of town. After around fifteen minutes, you finally reach it.
“Alright, ‘Happy Mask Salesman’… where are you?”
You hear the insidious chuckle from behind you, and you quickly spin around.
You nearly shit your pants as you jump out of your skin, seeing the same creepy grin you’ve come to expect. Despite you seeing it on him multiple times, it never ceases to freak you the fuck out.
“What the hell, man?!”
“Oh? Did I scare you? I’m terribly sorry, I never meant to,” he says, bowing at almost a complete 90-degree angle to you before standing upright once again.
How the hell does he manage to keep perfect balance despite that giant fucking thing on his back?
Dude must be fucking ripped under that outfit or something.
“…Yeah. Anyway, I’ve gotten you the money you wanted.”
You take the coins out of your pocket and hand them to the salesman.
“Ten… eleven… twelve!” he smiles at you. “Very good, my boy! A successful sale of a very fine mask.” Sweet, you’re in the clear. “Now, tell me about the buyer. What happened when he or she received the mask?”
…Damn. So close.
You proceed to fill him in with all the details about Berry Punch and Piña Colada that you can remember.
“Ah, selling the mask to a child,” he says, brushing his chin with his hand. “And you tell me she loved it?”
You nod. He places his hands on your shoulders and grins happily.
…Not that you can tell the difference or anything.
“Wonderful! You’ve had a taste of what it feels like to give and receive happiness!” he exclaims. “Did it feel good, Anonymous?”
You think for a moment, before nodding and smiling with your eyes closed, mimicking the salesman. “Y’know what? It kind of did.”
He lowers his hands back to in front of his chest once again. “Now then, are you ready for your next sale?”
Your eyes shoot open. “W-what?!”
The salesman chuckles, reaching into his pack and pulling out another mask. “This one is called the ‘Captain’s Hat’; it represents the courage and leadership of those in command of others,” he says, handing you the mask.
The mask, sure enough, is a hat, however rather than a normal hat you would expect, it’s a hat made of bones.
The skull on the front has no bottom jaw, but you chuckle a bit at the fact that it almost looks like it’s smiling.
“B-but I only said one-”
“I want you to sell this mask next,” the salesman says, handing you a few coins. “This should be payment enough for selling that mask.”
Five coins… whoa, that’s a lot more than the percentage that the two of you agreed on!
“Wait, this is a lot more than…”
“Oh, is it?” the Happy Mask Salesman looks down at your hand full of the coins. “You must forgive me, I’ve always been terrible with mathematics,” he chuckles, looking up at you again.
Bullshit. You can almost see the sarcasm dripping through his teeth and to the ground.
Seems this guy is a pretty okay dude after all.
You smile, and close your hand, putting the hat on your head. If it makes you money, might as well. “I’ll sell this mask for ya, don’t you worry.”
He nods, and smiles up at you. “I have faith in your abilities, Anonymous,” he says, turning around.
While turning, you catch a glimpse of a… strange looking mask. “Hey, what mask is that?” you ask, pointing at the mask on the bottom-left of his pack.
It’s in a heart-shape; however it has two spikes on the top of each curve, and four on each respective side of the heart. The eyes are a yellowish-orange, and the entire design of the blues and reds and yellows…
…It gives you a menacing feeling, as if you’re being crushed on all sides.
He turns to look at it. “Oh ho ho, you’re talking about this one?” he asks, pointing at the demonic-looking heart mask.
You nod.
“Oh my, that mask I’m afraid isn’t for sale, my boy,” he says, taking it off the pack and holding it in his hands. “For you see, this particular mask is important to me, and for that reason I must never sell it.”
“Why’s it so important to you?”
He holds it up to you. “Do you see the strange designs on the front? These are the markings of an ancient tribe, known for using masks like these in its hexing rituals.”
Your eyes widen. Why hadn’t you ever heard of this before?
“Fortunately, the tribe died out long ago, and their rituals forever sealed away. However, they left one small thing behind,” he says. “This mask is named ‘Majora’s Mask’, for the name of the spirit sealed within it.”
“Sealed inside it?”
“Yes, my boy; the tribe would sacrifice evil doers and seal their spirits inside masks, and use their power for furthering their goals…”
You’re a bit creeped out by the mask.
“But, there’s not any reason to worry now! Nobody will get this mask; I’ve gotten ahold of it, so there is no need to worry. Especially not against some sort of pony creature, they can’t hurt you.”
Oh, you beg to differ…
“Well, yeah… I’m just gonna be going now, then…” You turn around, and begin walking.
“Farewell, Anonymous… I have faith in you…”
As you walk towards down, you swear you can hear another, much more sadistic-sounding voice coming from behind you… “Kekeke… soon, very soon…”
You turn around to where you heard the voice come from, but there’s nothing there. “Hey, what was that?” You look around for a few minutes, finally coming to the conclusion that the salesman is, once again, gone without a trace.
How the hell does he do that?