//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Tales of a Wizard: Flesh Masks // by Applechip //------------------------------// I stretched slightly under the toasty afternoon sun. The soft grass in front of Twilight’s library, my new home, tickled my belly as I shifted in my cozy little resting place. Purple hooves played over my black ones as Twilight rested across my side. One of the novels I saw in the library, wreathed in my red energy, floated in front our faces. Our heads were nearly even with each other as we read. Well more accurately, she read; I merely relaxed under her weight. As she read her book, my gaze drifted over to Ponyville just down the road and all the content ponies going about their day. I felt amazing. I was resting and spending time with the mare that had made my life start to make sense again. I felt like something had been missing for so long that the part-life became the norm, but then Twilight filled that space and I was made whole again. “Twilight, am I making this potion right?” Spike cried from the library’s window. I turned the page as Twilight tapped my hoof. “Ugh, Spike you have horrible timing,” Twilight called back. “Daring Do just found the crystal skull!” “Twilight please, I think I missed a step,” Spike countered. The little dragon’s face appeared in the nearby window and he sighed as he saw us. “Come on Twilight, you can lie around on Dresden whenever. I need your help now!” I chuckled slightly at his implication. Twilight started grumbling and hefted herself off me, “Can’t I get just one day to relax? Is that too much to ask?” “Apparently,” I called after her. She whipped her tail at me in frustration and disappeared into the library. I smiled and lay my head back down on the grass, getting comfortable as I waited for her return. I lay there for several seconds before something caught my attention, or lack of something in this case. The nearby town of Ponyville had been bustling with ponies and was alive with the noise of those same ponies just a moment ago, but for whatever reason that noise grew silent to the point of mute. I sat up and craned my head to look at the town, and it was completely devoid of all ponies. Not one minute ago there was a town’s worth of ponies moving around, but now the buildings stood vacant of all life. There was no whispering of wind or rustling of leaves; the silence was so absolute that for a moment I thought I had gone deaf. An irrational, bone-deep fear of being utterly alone again bit into me. My ears twitched and swiveled from side to side as something finally pierced the silence. Whispering, faint whispering from what felt like hundreds of voices just far enough away that I couldn’t make out what was being said. I strained my ears to try and make out what the whispers, I didn’t need to. The whispers grew in volume and soon enough I could hear them clearly. “Dresden. Dresden. Where were you, Dresden?” The whispers were coming from every direction at once, but the most of them seemed to be originating from the library. I got to my hooves and began walking hesitantly towards the door, “Twilight, if this is some sort of game I’m not amused.” “What are the consequences Dresden?” As I drew nearer to the door the whispers grew more frantic and I grew more desperate to find Twilight. By the time I hit the door I was going at a full gallop and I nearly ripped it from it’s hinges when I hit it. As I charged into the central room of the library I yelled at the top of my voice, “Twilight!” No answer called back to me, neither Twilight nor Spike was anywhere to be seen. The second I entered the library the voices abruptly stopped and my eyes were drawn to the center of the room. Lying on the center of the floor was a body. It honestly took me a few seconds to recognize it as a human body. It took me several more seconds to recognize it as my human body. He wore the same outfit I’d always worn, loose fitting but comfortable shirt and pants, and my favorite spell layered leather duster. He lay splayed out on his back with his closed eyes facing the ceiling. I drew near the doppelganger, my mind reeling at the bizarreness of the situation. As I got close enough and stood over my apparently dead human self, a single deafening voice came out of nowhere and thundered across my ears. “WHERE WERE YOU?” The doppelganger’s eyes snapped open and at the same time his hand shot out to fasten into an iron hard grip around my throat. “Ack!” I shouted as I sat up out of my bed, my covers flying every which way. After a second or two of frenzied breathing I realized that I was surrounded by grey stone instead of wood. I was back in Canterlot Castle. I ran a hoof along my neck over the phantom grip, while using my other hoof to massage my aching temple. As I eased away the dull pain, a much gentler hoof reached around my shoulder and eased me back down. “Harry, what’s wrong?” Twilight whispered into my ear. “Are you okay?” I smiled as I sank back down into my bed and remembered who I was sharing it with. “I’m fine Twilight,” I answered back. “I just had an... interesting dream.” Twilight placed her head next to mine, “Well it’s not how I usually prefer to wake up, but I’m open-minded.” I chuckled and used a foreleg to draw her closer. “It won’t be a recurring issue,” I assured her. “So…” Twilight stretched the word out slightly as her forelegs snaked around me. “You’re really going to stay?” “Well, my stuff is already here.” I gestured around the room at the random belongings I’d accumulated. “I think I can hang around for a while, and there is this cute girl I think I have a shot with.” That earned me a sharp jab against my ribs with one of her forelegs. “Though I suppose I’ll be needing a place to stay after I’m done in Canterlot.” I flashed Twilight a quick grin, “You think Applejack would rent out her barn?” “Now why would you want to sleep in a stuffy barn? There’s plenty of room at my library,” Twilight countered and nuzzled against me. “And Spike can take the guest room downstairs.” I smiled widely at that, “There’s a thought. Living in a library, fitting for a wizard I suppose.” I shifted around and wormed my way off my bed, to Twilight’s slight displeasure, and heard the sound of several crunching papers as my hooves touched the ground. I raised a foreleg at the sound and saw a piece of paper came away with it. “Aww, come on.” Twilight twisted around in the bed to try and see what I was looking at, the covers on my bed twisted around her limbs as she moved. By the time she managed to angle her face so she could see anything, the covers had wrapped completely around her like a cloth cocoon with only her head still exposed to the air. “What is… oh.” The large box of papers I had been going through the previous night now lay upturned on its side, the many pieces of history inside spilled over my floor. The pieces I had already gone through mixing with those I hadn’t. I could only assume that it had been knocked over during the confusion of the previous night. “I’m going to have to go over all of this again aren’t I?” I groaned. My trying to remember what exactly I had and hadn’t already gone through was interrupted by a loud growling sound that had pervaded the room. After a moment of consideration I noted that it was my stomach, still angry at me for only eating about half of a meal the previous night. The remains of said meal still sat on my desk and did not look the least bit appetizing. I waved a hoof at the pile of work, giving it up as a bad use of my time, “It can wait for now, I think I need a decent meal.” “Yeah, it’d be nice to actually see something other than this room,” Twilight agreed. “Just let me… Hang on…” Twilight began struggling against the covers that held her prisoner, and I have to admit, it was one of the cuter and funnier things I’d ever seen. I simply stood a few feet from my bed, doing all I could to keep from laughing my head off as she fought against an aggressive piece of fabric. After a few seconds of struggling Twilight got fed up with the whole thing and cried, “Oh, for the love of…” An instant later she teleport out from the covers and over to stand next to me in a bright flash of purple light. I held open the door to my room for her even as I was snickering like an idiot. She went through the door and as she passed by me her tail whipped around to smack me in my face. That stopped me laughing, but I still followed after her with dumb grin spread across my muzzle. As we passed by one of the windows in the barrack’s walls we saw that Celestia’s sun was only just rising over the distant hills and started shining light over the city below. It was still fairly early in the day, and as such there were very few soldiers and guardsponies roaming the halls of Canterlot’s barracks. We only encountered a handful of other ponies that had presumably gotten up for early shifts. Twilight and I made a beeline for the mess hall on the first level of the barracks. It wasn’t really different food than we’ve been eating lately, but it was a desperately needed change of scenery. I do treasure my established routine, but I can only stand being in one room so long before I start feeling like a willing prisoner. As we turned down the main hallway and neared the mess hall, a certain thought entered my head. At this early in the day most ponies’ first instinct would be to go and get breakfast like we were, and thus the mess hall would be the most likely place to run into my friends; friends that would be sure to have several awkward questions to ask when they found out about us. I stuck out a hoof to stop Twilight in her tracks, “Hold up a second.” Twilight slid a little on the tiled floor and bumped into my foreleg. “What is it?” I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, “I’m assuming none of the others know about what we said last night, correct?” “I was a little too preoccupied to talk to anypony other than you last night,” Twilight responded and offered a small smile. I nodded a little in response, “Twilight if it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to keep it that way.” She cocked her head at me in complete bewilderment, “You, don’t want to tell the others?” “At the moment my future plans make no difference to them, because I physically can’t leave Equestria,” I explained. “I’d prefer to avoid awkward questions until they become necessary.” Twilight frowned at me in deep thought for a few seconds before she responded, “They’d want to know, Harry.” “I’ll tell them… eventually.” She sighed and shook her head, “Fine, I won’t say anything for now. If it comes up though, I won’t deny it.” She rubbed a hoof against her temple, “I hate keeping secrets though. The last time I tried it I wound up shoving my face in a potted plant to keep myself from talking.” That got me chuckling again. “That’s all I can ask of you.” We resumed our walk to the mess hall. “So what’s this story that ends with your face in a potted plant?” Her only response was to groan and shake her head again. I tried and failed to stifle my laughter. We finally reached and pushed through the doors to the mess hall. The room had a very simple layout. There were several long tables and benches that spanned the length of the room, and along one wall was a long buffet table bearing a wide variety of foods. It looked almost exactly like my high school lunchroom. I had been right in assuming that my friends would likely be there eating. Michael, Applejack, and Fluttershy were all sitting and eating at one of the central tables. Pinkie was at the buffet line, dishing out food for the couple of guardsponies that were present. As we walked in, Michael turned around to see who had entered. As soon as he saw us a huge smile spread across his face, shortly before he burst out into the kind of rolling laughter you’d expect from Father Christmas. He got up from his seat and walked over to us, laughing the entire way. When he came within easy reach of us he clapped a hoof on my shoulder, “You actually said yes. Good for you two!” He craned his head around to face the buffet table. “Hey Pinkie, break out some cider!” I could only stand there gawking as my brilliant plan to not tell them anything, seemed to be collapsing around me. “Wha… How?” I shook my head for a moment to clear my thoughts. “Okay how? There’s no way you could know.” Michael’s head spun back around to face me, “I told you I saw her lost to her thoughts yesterday.” He gestured at Twilight who was decidedly not saying anything, but couldn’t quite hide her smile. “I’ve seen that look before. I figured it was only a matter of time before she reached out to you. That and the fact that she’s standing two inches from you suggest that she has already done so.” He leaned his head to look behind me, “Also your tail has brushed against her at least three times by now.” “Wait, what?” I turned my head around to look behind me, and sure enough my long black tail was swishing slightly back and forth. Every so often it would swing hard enough to close the distance between Twilight and I and danced along her right flank, despite my not giving it permission to do so. Traitor! I thought at the appendage. It ignored my venomous thoughts and continued swishing away. I turned back to face Michael and tried to put on my best poker face. “Circumstantial,” I said stubbornly. Michael leaned forward a bit and grinned at me, “Okay, how about this: We’re talking about you and Twilight, and you’re smiling.” I bit my lower lip and made a conscious effort to wipe away the smile that had creeped up on me as I tried to think of a counter to this. “Well damn, he’s right.” I glanced at Twilight and smiled a little wider, “I guess you won’t have to keep it a secret after all.” “Good, because honestly I don’t think I could’ve hidden it for very long,” Twilight offered. “Rarity usually has an ear for this sort of thing.” Michael looked over at Twilight and actually gave her a curt little bow. “I have to thank you Ms. Sparkle. It is very distressing to have to watch my friend suffer by himself for so long, and have him be too stubborn to accept any help.” He cast me a sidelong glance at those last few words. Twilight chuckled and leaned against me, “Well he didn’t make it easy, but I managed to get him to come out of his shell a bit.” “Guys, I’m right here. You two see me right?” I said, looking between the two of them. I settled on raising an inquisitive eyebrow at Michael, “And you’re taking this a bit better than I thought you would.” Michael gave me a genuine look of confusion in return. “Why would you think otherwise? I’ve always supported the growth of relationships, no matter where they start.” Another smile spread over his face and his head turned back around to face the mess hall, “Which reminds me. Pinkie, where’s that cider?” My eyes widened in fear after I processed those words. If Pinkie’s personality was anything to judge by, then her reaction to this information would be nothing less than extremely frantic. “Oh Michael no, please don’t-“ I was interrupted by a loud thud as Pinkie slammed a large keg of cider on a nearby table. “Here you go, Michael. What’s this for anyway? Are we celebrating something?” Pinkie asked in her usual high-pitched tone while she tilted her head questioningly at Michael. In answer Michael just pointed a hoof at Twilight and I, the former of which was still leaning against my side. It took Pinkie a couple of seconds before Michael’s meaning sunk in. As soon as it hit her, she jumped five feet in the air and just hovered there for about three seconds; something that I’m still trying to wrap my head around. Aside from casually spitting in the face of every physicist ever, Pinkie’s face became the very image of surprise. Her eyes widened to cover most of her face and her jaw dropped as she did probably the loudest gasp I’d ever heard. After she was done inhaling what I estimated to be about three times more air than her lungs should’ve been able to hold, she disappeared in a puff of smoke as she zipped off to the others. I groaned as I watched her bounce around her friends’ table, speaking in an ultra fast tone that was impossible to understand. Any hopes I had to stay under the radar were dashed the second Pinkie got involved. I suppose I should’ve expected that, but it was still all sorts of uncomfortable to draw such unwanted attention. Pinkie darted back to Michael’s side positively beaming and hopping excitedly in place. The colors of her mane and coat turned such a brilliant shade of pink that I probably could’ve used her as a night light if I wanted to. Applejack and Fluttershy walked up next to her and expressed varying levels of confusion as they did so. “Now Pinkie, what are you getting on about?” Applejack asked. “You were talkin’ so fast I only caught every couple of words.” “Twilight and Dresden! Twilight and Dresden!” she screamed, as though that explained everything. “I thought I felt my muzzle get tingly last night, but I wasn’t sure. Oooh, this is so exciting!” Applejack refocused her slightly bleary eyes and looked between the overly hyper Pinkie and Twilight for a moment. “Wait a moment, you two…” She lifted a hoof to point between Twilight and I. After a brief second it dawned on her much as it had for Pinkie, and she let out a rolling laugh to rival Michael’s. “Well ain’t that something? Good for the two of ya!” She turned back around to continue her breakfast, but stopped en route to speak with the yellow pegasus, “Hey Fluttershy, remind me to tell Rainbow that she owes me ten bits.” “It’s nice to know that my friends are gambling on my love life,” said Twilight with a hint of annoyance. She pushed past me to follow Applejack back to the table that still held their forgotten meals. Michael, Fluttershy, and I exchanged confused glances before we followed suit. Pinkie bounced along behind us. “Shoot, we didn’t mean anything by it Twi,” said Applejack as she sat back down at the table. Michael and Fluttershy returned to their seats as well. Twilight found a seat opposite from Applejack, and continued shooting her chastising looks. I sat next to Twilight and tried my very best to blend into the background; the last time I saw her less than happy with her friends, I wound up covered in soot. Almost immediately after I sat down, two trays of food and several mugs of cider appeared before us at about the same time a pink blur flashed around the table. After delivering our meals Pinkie stopped immediately behind Twilight and I and continued bouncing excitedly, her coat was still an extremely vibrant pink. Applejack chuckled at this and continued to try to placate Twilight, “After Manehattan, Rainbow and I were a bit shaken up and just needed something to laugh about.” Applejack shrugged a bit, “I remembered how you chased after Dresden in that alley, even after he told you to stay with Fluttershy. That just gave me the idea and gave us a much needed reason to laugh. I didn’t actually think anything would come of it.” Applejack smiled and looked between Twilight and myself, “Don’t get me wrong though, it warms my heart to see you smile again Twi. In the middle of all this business with monsters and dark magic, anything that makes my friends happy is fine by me.” Twilight seemed satisfied and nodded her thanks, “It’s alright, AJ. You don’t need to apologize for anything.” A devious little smile played over Twilight’s lips, “Though I might need to have a little chat with Rainbow about her betting against us.” I levitated my mug to my nose and sniffed at the cider as I looked around the table. “Where is Rainbow anyway? And for that matter, where is Rarity?” Applejack let out a short bark of laughter before settling into a continuous stream of chuckles, “Rainbow’s just bein’ Rainbow. Nothing short of a rampaging manticore could get her up this early in the day.” “Rarity is still asleep as well,” Fluttershy added suddenly. As one, the rest of us turned to look at the previously silent pegasus. Fluttershy shrunk away a little under our combined gazes, but seemed to regain her strength after a second. She sat back up in her seat as she smiled warmly at Twilight and I. “First, I just wanted to say I’m so happy for you two.” She turned slightly to address the table as a whole, “I ran into Rarity late last night in the medical wing. She said she was running errands for Luna and would be for most of the night. I think she and Luna are organizing some kind of event.” “Well Luna’s in charge of public relations, so it’s probably something to keep the citizens of Canterlot calm,” Twilight offered. “And if Rarity’s involved you can be certain that whatever it is is going to be fancy.” Twilight sniffed at her own mug and adopted a slightly nervous expression, “Hey Pinkie, this isn’t Big Mac’s is-“ “Don’t worry, that’s normal Apple family cider,” Pinkie cut her off before she could finish. Pinkie’s bouncing became even more frantic as she forced her way into the middle of our conversation, “But that’s enough chatting; now it’s time to celebrate!” She finally paused in her constant jumping to put a hoof to her chin in thought, “We’ll need cupcakes, and lots of balloons. I’m thinking purple and grey balloons to go with Twilight’s and Harry’s coats.” “Don’t forget games,” Michael added, a definite chuckle hidden behind his voice. “I know Dresden likes group games, like cards or board games.” “Michael, please don’t encourage her,” I moaned. My words evidently fell on deaf ears. Pinkie’s excitement only increased further at this news and her pace quickened as ideas ran through her head. “Oh, why didn’t you say so? I have card games of course; I also have a bunch of group board games. There are just so many to choose from, I’ll have to get you to look at them later.” I groaned in defeat and began repeatedly slamming my face into the table in front of me. I only stopped when I noticed that the horn on my head was dipping into the tray of breakfast foods Pinkie had brought me. I straightened myself back into a proper sitting position, only to find a piece of toast had been speared on the end of my horn. Twilight began laughing softly as the toast tore and fell to land on my muzzle. I brushed it off with a hoof before I turned to whisper to Twilight, “Now you know why I didn’t want to say anything.” Twilight rolled her eyes at me as I looked back at the excitable pink mare. “Pinkie, I appreciate the thought, but please don’t. I really wanted to keep this as quiet as possible.” Pinkie looked back at me with large hurt eyes, “But Harry, that’s not right. This is a big deal and needs to be celebrated.” She pouted at me and gave me the saddest puppy dog eyes my heart had ever endured. I opened my mouth to respond and prepared myself to swallow the guilt that would come with denying her. Before I could say anything however, Twilight jabbed a hoof into my ribs to get my attention. “Just let her throw the party, Harry,” Twilight whispered into my ear. “It’ll keep her happy, and she’ll probably just keep pestering you until you give in.” “You can’t be serious,” I whispered back. Twilight shot me a stern look and gestured a hoof at Pinkie. Well this relationship is off to a flying start. I gnashed my teeth together as I faced Pinkie again. “Fine, against my better judgment-“ Twilight jabbed at my ribs again, “-I accept your offer.” Pinkie beamed and began bouncing on the spot again. Michael let out another booming laugh and shot Twilight an approving glance, “Well, this will be a joyous occasion.” I quirked an eyebrow at Michael as I noticed that something seemed a little off about him. As far as I could tell he only felt joy and pride for me, and expressed no noticeable negative emotions whatsoever. “Not that I don’t love my private life being made public, but what about you?” Michael looked back at me, confusion apparent on his face, “What do you mean?” “I mean what about your family?” I responded. “We’ve been gone for, what, almost three weeks now? I kind of figured that you’d be going crazy worrying over them.” Michael relaxed back into his seat and offered me a warm smile, “Of course I worry about them Dresden. But I do not let my fears consume me, because I know that they are safe.” I smirked at Michael. “Let me guess, because you have faith?” I said, putting extra emphasis on the final word. Michael shrugged his shoulders and continued smiling at me, “Well there’s that, and there’s the knowledge that Charity’s as good at sword play as I am.” That stunned me for a good second or two. Michael just pressed on, ignoring my sudden dumbfounded silence, “Who do you think I traditionally spar with to keep in top form?” Michael’s wife, Charity, was an interesting blend of extremely kind hearted and ruthlessly protective. She’s a large woman; she had broad shoulders and had more lean muscle than any other woman I knew, though she didn’t really look wholly menacing. On top of her large frame and muscles, she wore the fine layer of soft excess that came with a comfortable living. I could easily picture her softly singing her children to sleep one moment, and pounding in the head of a supernatural predator the next. I knew that she was capable of being a significant threat; I just didn’t know that she had the skills to back it up. I made a mental note to not get on her bad side if our paths ever crossed again. “So let me get this straight,” Applejack cut in. “A regular day for you at your home is to go about your job, look after your young’ins, and then you and your wife go at each other with swords?” Michael paused to think about it for a second. “She generally prefers a hammer, but essentially yes.” I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. I laughed hard enough that my eyes started watering up. After a few seconds it died down enough that I could choke out some words. “You know, if it were anyone other than you and Charity, I’d recommend a marriage counselor. Although you two would probably wind up teaching the counselor more than the other way around.” “Variety is the key to a happy marriage,” Michael said with a smile on his face. “And truth be told, it’s not entirely uncommon for my duties to take me away from my home for extended periods of time. Although ever since I’ve started helping you Harry, my work has gotten much more local and I’ve had to leave less and less. Take that as you will.” He worked a hoof around his mug of cider and raised it to his mouth, “Though I will say this: As far as my longer jobs go, this one is definitely the most interesting.” I shot a quick glance at the mare beside me, and smiled. Twilight was busily eating the breakfast before her, but her eyes twinkled with interest as she watched Michael and drank in every little detail she could about her friend. “Yeah, I’d have to agree with you there.” “Uhm, everypony,” Fluttershy whispered. Again we all turned to face the previously silent pegasus, though she didn’t shy away this time. After her last contribution, she had chosen to simply remain quiet and observe our conversation. The mare was so silent that I had almost forgotten she was there at all. Now that she had drawn attention to herself, I could see what looked like a royal messenger trotting away behind her, and an open letter held in her hoof. “I think I know what Princess Luna and Rarity are putting together.” Fluttershy stretched out her hoof to offer us the letter. Twilight seized the paper in her telekinetic grip and floated it over to read. “Let’s just take a little look, shall we?” I watched as her eyes traveled further and further down the page, and saw an amused look spread across her face as she did so. “Oh Harry, this’ll be great for us! Luna wants us to help her tonight.” Twilight cried and floated the letter over for me to read. “What’s going on now?” I asked as the paper came into view. I paused and took a moment to read the relatively small piece of paper. My eyes trailed down the letter and took in the exact details of what Twilight meant. As I finished reading it, I let out a low groan. Abandoning all sense of personal space, Pinkie shot between us and pulled Twilight and I into an extremely one-sided group hug. I probably wouldn’t have minded it so much, if it weren’t for the fact that her hug forced my skull to collide painfully with Twilight’s. “What is it? What is it?” Pinkie shouted right before she forced her face forward so that she could read it as well. “Ohhh, this is going to be fun!” she cried after she finished reading the letter. “Forget planning a separate party for you two. We can celebrate at this thing!” she cried and hugged us a little tighter. Despite my still spinning head, I let out another low defeated groan.