//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan and into the House Fire 
// Story: My Little Mask 
// by guardianxela 
//------------------------------//

(yeah, no offense to ya'll out there, but I'm gonna fast forward a little...aaaand here we go!)

Stanley spent most of the day explaining concepts and facts of the human world, such as human society, their money system, and even more personal things like his friends and where he lived, and in return Fluttershy explained about her world and her life. While Stanley was fascinated by the concept of Pegasi being able to manipulate the weather and Unicorns capable of using magic, the fact that Stanley lived in a polluted city didn't sit well with Fluttershy, who had lived in both a quaint-but-clean village named Ponyville and in a city in the sky called Cloudsdale. ("And I thought Edge City was a ridiculous name.") In fact, according to Fluttershy, not many places in Equestria, the country they were in, were polluted. Almost every place there was clean. This fact stunned Stanley, who had lived in Edge City for all of his life. In search of proof, Stanley walked - or rather, stumbled his way out the door to see what it was like outside. And considering he hadn't been out of Edge City for at least a year, he was caught off guard by the bright sunlight, the clear sky, and the clean air. It was...intoxicating for him, giving him a certain energy that he decided to put to use in walking around. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything for his clumsiness. Which, by the way, was amplified thanks to his two extra legs. The result: he ended up bumping into so many things that his body was covered in bruises and scrapes, his head dizzy from too many hits to the head. Fluttershy found him and dragged him back in to nurse his injuries, as well as feed the both of them since dinner was getting close. In the end he ended up spending the night since he had no other place to stay at, but not before asking Fluttershy to keep his origins as a human a secret for the time being.

And now here we are, at the next morning. The sun was beginning to shine through the window and shone upon Stanley's face, interrupting his sleep. He groaned and slowly began to wake up to the day, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. As his vision began to come back, he sat up and looked around the room. He realized that something was sitting next to him. Something big...and pink...and with blue eyes staring right at him from three inches away. It took him a good two seconds before he realized what he was looking at: a pink pony staring him right in the face.

"Hi there!" she said in a high-pitch voice.

"AAAAH!" he exclaimed, backing away and falling off the side of his bed. "Wh-who are you, what are you doing here, what do you want?!"

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" she exclaimed, suddenly at his side and bouncing up and down. "I'm here because Fluttershy asked me to come here. Well, not here in the room, just here in the house. She asked me to help with the animals. As for what I want...weeeeelllllllll, I want to make a party so super-duper fantastic that everypony remembers it! I'd like to throw you a party, but Fluttershy asked me not to. But if I could, it'd have balloons, streamers, punch, a biiiiig cake, some cupcakes; I also wanna bake the world's best cupcake, which I tried once before. It ended up exploding and needed less butter. Ooh, ooh. I also wanna make sure my friends never get sad, because if they get sad then I get sad, and if I get sad they become even more sad, and if they become even more sad, then I - ooh,that's right! You're new in town! What's your name?!" (and all of this was said in the span of thirty seconds)

"Uh...what?" Stanley asked, trying to process what she said. "My-my name? S-Stanley, Stanley Ipkiss."

"Stanley Ipkiss? That's a funny name! I like it! Stanley Ipkiss, Stanley Ipkiss, Stanley Ipkiss! It's almost as fun to say as pickle-barrel, or kumquat! Pickle-barrel kumquat! Pickle-barrel kumquat! Pickle -"

"WAIT!" Stanley yelled. "Wha-what do you mean that Fluttershy asked you to come here?"

"Oh, Fluttershy asked me to come by yesterday so I could help her take care of the animals, and in return she'd give me new food for Gummy! He's my pet baby alligator, and he's teething, so I need to change his food."

"Pet...alligator?"

"Uh huh! I brought him here with me. He's with Fluttershy right now."

Speaking of, Fluttershy walked into the room at that moment to come into the room, followed by the same white rabbit from before and a tiny green alligator. If one looked closely at said alligator, they could see the beginnings of white in the baby alligator's mouth. This definitely confused Stanley, who was sure that alligators were born with their teeth. Gummy waddled its way to Pinkie Pie, its eyes staring at Stanley with an almost lifeless look in them...which changed to a suspicious glare in about two seconds, like Gummy could sense that Stanley wasn't what he appeared to be. Something about that gator made Stanley nervous.

"Uh...I don't think Gummy likes me."

"Oh, don't be silly!" said Pinkie, picking him up with both hooves. "He's just grumpy from his teething! Right, Gummy?" 

In response, Gummy began to snap at Stanley, biting only on air but still unnerving the blue stallion. He was starting to worry about what would happen when that gator had its full set of teeth when Fluttershy walked up to him with that cute smile of hers. Somehow it had a calming effect on him, as well as on Gummy. Maybe it was her knowledge and experience with animals? Whatever it was, Stanley was thankful for it.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Ipkiss?" she asked.

"Oh, you can call me Stanley," he said with a smile. "And I feel much better, actually. Thank you!"

"Oh, it was my pleasure! I enjoy helping animals and ponies alike."

"Oh! Well, that's, uh, really sweet of you."

"Oh, um...thank you," she said. "...so, do you feel up to walking to town today? I know somepony who may be able to help get you home."

"You need help getting home?" Pinkie asked, coming up to Stanley. "Where do you live? Canterlot? Fillydelphia? Los Pegasus?"

"Uh...Edge City?"

"Edge City? Ooh, I like the sound of that! Sounds edgy! I've never heard of that city before! Where's it at?"

"Well...can you keep a secret from anyone, er, anypony else? And promise not to tell?"

"A secret? Of course I can! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

As she said this, she made strange movements with her hoof, ending with her sticking her hoof in her eye. Despite the eye being closed, the action still made Stanley wince momentarily.

"Well...I'm not from this world."

*GASP!!!* "You're an alien?!"

"Well...technically. See, I'm not actually a pony. I'm a human."

"A human? What's that?"

"Well, uh...a hairless monkey that walks on two legs with its back straight...anyways, I ended up here because an enemy of mine threw me through a portal that he opened with a magic spell, and now I need someone to help me get home."

"Magic spell?" interrupted Pinkie. "Then Twilight Sparkle would be the pony to go to for help. Ooh, that reminds me! I need to borrow a book from Twilight about teething alligators! Sorry, guys, but I'll see you over at Twilight's!

And with that Pinkie, grabbing Gummy and putting him in her mane, went out the door and left for Twilight's house. Stanley couldn't help but give a sigh of relief now that that pink pony was gone. 

"I'm sorry if Pinkie caused you any trouble; she can be a hoof-full."

"More like an earful," he said, rubbing his ears. "Is she always like that?"

"Well, she has met somepony that she's never met before...so no. Normally she would have run off and throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for you. The only reason why she didn't was because I asked her not to, and even then it won't last long. Sooner or later she'll throw you one."

"Really? A-a party? Gosh, that...that's really nice of her. I...I haven't been thrown a party since I graduated from high school."

"Huh?"

"Oh, uh, nothing! So, uh, how's about we head on over to Twilight's house right now?"





Twenty minutes had passed before they actually left the house. Those twenty minutes were spent by Fluttershy trying to teach Stanley how to walk properly in his current body. By the time that was accomplished and they were out of the house (along with the Mask in a borrowed saddle bag, just in case. And yes, Fluttershy saw the mask but did not get an explanation as to what it was for), ten minutes had passed before they reached the gates of Ponyville. All the while Stanley couldn't help but admire the view. Like before, he was dazzled by the bright sunlight and the fresh air. Add to it the nice scenery and Stanley was definitely hooked. ("I think I might just move here.") And now they were walking through Ponyville, a town of simple but nice buildings far smaller than what Stanley was used to. It was, by any city-dweller's standards, small. And clean, just like Fluttershy had said the day before. Stanley couldn't help but look around at the houses and small buildings around him. While he had been to small towns back on his home world, none of them were like this one, with its cleanliness, its vivid colors, or even its cozy atmosphere. He always felt out of place in small towns, and while this was no exception today, at least here he felt welcomed. No pony gave him weird stares or whispered to themselves while looking at him, no pony stopped talking and stare when they would see him. He actually felt welcomed.

Eventually they made it to Twilight's place, and Stanley had to stop and stare at the building. Now Fluttershy had explained that she was the town librarian and lived in the library. What she didn't explain was that the library was built into a giant oak tree, complete with windows on its trunk and a balcony or two at the edges of its branches. How it was still standing was beyond him. One thing was clear: there was little chance of forgetting what it looked like. Stanley followed Fluttershy as she walked up to the door and knocked on it. Four seconds later, the door opened to reveal a purple dragon with green frills and eyes, a head shorter than Fluttershy, and crunching on (making Stanley and me cringe) a ruby the size of Stanley's fist (or hoof, in the current situation).

"Hey, Fluttershy," he said with a smile. "Nice to see ya again."

"It's nice to see you too, Spike," she said with a smile. "Is Twilight around?"

"Yeah. She's upstairs, reading a new book she ordered...who's this guy?"

"Oh, this is Stanley. He, um, came to Ponyville by accident."

"Accident? What's that mean?"

"Oh, well, it's kinda funny...well, okay, not really. See, I was thrown into a magic portal and ended up at Fluttershy's house."

"Magic portal, eh? Well, you came to the right place. Come on in, I'll get Twilight down."

Stanley and Fluttershy walked into the room, the former looking around. Like most libraries, bookshelves filled with books were everywhere. Unlike those libraries, these shelves were carved out of the inside of the tree, just like most things in the house. Stanley had to wonder what kind of architect could make such a house out of a tree, not to mention how much they got paid to do it. His curiosity getting the better of him, he walked up to one bookshelf and read the titles of some of the books. Most of them involved ponies somehow or another ("'Dancing for Ponies with Four Left Hooves,' 'Proper Pony Mannerisms and You,' 'How to Babysit a Foal'.") While the titles were bizarre to him, they still fascinated him. So engrossed was he that he didn't notice the purple unicorn approaching him.

"Need help looking for anything?"

"AAAAAHH!!" yelled Stanley, jumping three feet in the air in startled reaction. "Oh. Sorry about that. I, uh, didn't notice you there."

"It's alright," she said, rubbing her ear. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, librarian of the Golden Oaks Library."

"I-I'm Stanley, Stanley Ipkiss," he said, instinctively holding out his hoof.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ipkiss," she said, hoofbumping him. "Spike mentioned something about you having magic issues?"

"Yes, well, I was thrown into a portal and -"

"A portal?! That's highly advanced magic! And you said you were thrown into one?"

"Yes, by a psychotic blue-skinned imp named Skillit!"

"An imp? That's impossible. Imps aren't real, they're just myths."

"So?" asked Pinkie Pie, suddenly next to Stanley.

"AAAH! Whe-where'd you come from?!"

"The front door, silly!. Aaaaanyways, Twilight, we've seen PLEEEENTY of things that were only supposed to be myths! Sonic Rainbooms, my Pinkie Sense, time travel, and Nightmare Moon!"

"Well...you have a point...but even if imps are real, if it's a portal that it used, I'd need the spell that the imp used in order to send you back home...incidentally, where are you from?"

Stanley looked to Fluttershy and Pinkie. He had already trusted his secret with two of the natives. Was he safe to trust it with another. They both smiled and nodded, signifying they trusted Twilight. Nodding back, he closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and beginning.

"Well...the thing is, I'm not from this world. I'm from another world, in a different universe."

"...what?"

"Yeah," he said, looking down now. "A-a-aaand in that universe, I'm from a city called, well, Edge City. Not exactly an original name, I know, but...where are you going?"

"To the basement," she said, now standing in front of some downward stairs. "Could you please follow me, Mr. Ipkiss?"

"Uh...sure, I guess," he said, following her.

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment before following as well. Down at the basement there were several different kinds of machines and chemistry sets and books, much to Stanley's surprise. From what he had noticed in the town during his walk with Fluttershy, everything about Ponyville had seemed simple and low-tech. Finding machines such as what he saw then and there was quite surprising. It made him wonder how far this world's technology had progressed so far. That in mind, he couldn't help but wonder what he was looking at. Specifically, he was wondering about the giant metal box with wires and switches that looked like it belonged to a Frankenstein movie, the one that Twilight was using magic via her now-glowing horn to rearrange some wires and switches.

"Uh...Twilight? What is that...that thing you're working on?"

"This old thing? This is a body sensor. I once tried to use it to observe and measure Pinkie Pie's mysterious Pinkie Sense."

"Her...Pinkie Sense?"

"Yup! My Pinkie Sense! It tells me when something good or bad is about to happen around me. If my tail begins to twitch, then that means stuff's about to fall! And when my nose is itchy, it means to watch out for angry bees!"

"Uh...okay?"

"Disregarding Pinkie's mysterious predictions, I can make some adjustments to the body sensor so as to convert it into a polygraph."

"A polygraph...you mean a lie detector? What for?"

"As amazing as your tale sounds, Mr. Ipkiss -"

"Oh, please! Call me Stanley."

"Very well. As amazing as your tale sounds, Stanley, I'm afraid that I have my doubts. You're not the first pony to have come to me with the claims of being from another world or to have a close encounter with an alien," she said, looking at Pinkie Pie as she said it.

"What? It was Jest-and-Laugh day, we're supposed to pull pranks on each other on that day!"

"Right...well regardless, I'm going to have to ask you some questions to see if you're telling the truth or not."

"...well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. I mean, so long as you don't ask anything too personal."

"Don't worry. These are all going to be objective and on the subject, minus some testing questions to see if the equipment is working or not. Just give me a few more seconds to adjust some things...and we're done! Now, just step up to the table-like apparatus and prop your forelegs on top of the clamps, and I'll take care of the rest."

Stanley couldn't help but stare apprehensively at the contraption. In the past, he had been strapped to and locked into multiple machines and holding tables thanks to Edge City's local mad scientist, Pretorius. One of the few villains who knew of Stanley's alternate persona as the Mask, he has at multiple times clashed with Stanley in both forms. Whenever Stanley would be missing the Mask, their confrontations would mostly involve him being a victim to one of Pretorius' sadistic experiments or tortures, such as killer lasers almost cutting him or a pain tolerance-testing chair (that last one, Pretorius hadn't even hit the on switch and Stanley had already been in pain from the chair) Stanley couldn't help but swallow nervously and look back at the other two girls. They both nodded reassuringly, indicating that they trusted Twilight's choice. With that, he faced the machine and approached it, placing his forelegs on the apparatus. Twilight used her magic to clamp the restraints shut around his legs, and for a moment he had to keep himself from panicking. After that she levitated a strange head device before placing it on his head and hooking it up to the big machine. Finally she flipped a switch, and the whole thing came to life. Out of one slot flowed out some paper with a small, wavy line on it like any other polygraph paper.

"Alright, let's give it a test run. Is it true that your coat is blue?"

"My...my coat?"

 "Your current body color."

"Oh! Yes, it's true."

"Hm...seems to be working. What's four times four?"

"Sixteen."

"If you have a job, where do you work?"

"At a bank."

"Your least favorite color?"

"...green."

"Alright. Now let's try a lie. Are you a mare? A female?"

"Uh...yes, yes I am."

"Hm...definitely working. But that was a planned lie...do you have any trouble, as most ponies would say, getting a date for Saturday night?"

"Trouble getting...what?! Nooo, of course not!"

The polygraph lines became bigger, signifying that Stanley was lying (and everypony there could see it). While Stanley was starting to panic a little, Twilight was just observing the polygraph chart, Fluttershy was politely staying quiet, and Pinkie Pie was eating a cupcake that Stanley had no idea on where it came from (and neither do I). 

"It definitely is working," she said. "I apologize for that last question, Stanley, but I had to know for certain if the polygraph wasn't malfunctioning. From now on, I'll keep the questions as far away from being personal as I can."

"Th-thank you," he said. relieved but still embarrassed. 

"Now, let's get down to business: where do you live?"

"Well, I live in a city called Edge City."

"Hmm...and where is that located?"

"On the Western Seaborg of the United States...p-planet Earth."

"Planet Earth? Okay, now you have to...wait, the polygraph. It...it says you're not lying. But, but that's -"

"Like my Pinkie Sense?" interrupted Pinkie.

"...okay, I'll give. I don't know how it's possible, but at least for now you're telling the truth. For now, I'll believe you and see if I can help."

"Well, that's good...uh, does this mean I can get out of these clamps now?"

"Of course. Just give me a second to -" 

"TWILIGHT!" called out a voice from up above. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Down here, Rainbow Dash!"

The basement door flew open, and in ran a bright-blue pegasus with rainbow-colored mane and tail, looking frantic as she approached the violet pony.

"We've got a problem! A few houses and buildings have sprung up on green fire, and every time we try to put them out they just get bigger and spread out faster!"

"What?! Green fire?! That's enchanted fire! C'mon, we need to gather every unicorn in town!"

Twilight ran out of the room, followed by Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash...leaving Stanley strapped onto the machine.

"Hey, wait a minute!" he called out. "What about me?! HEY!!

They didn't hear him, leaving him to try and undo the clamps. Surprisingly, though, it didn't take as long to undo them (about ten seconds, really) before taking off the headpiece and giving chase after Twilight and the others (or stumbling and tripping several times while trying to run, depending on one's interpretation of the situation). Most ponies that he passed by were panicking, running away from the flaming houses and causing even more panic. And with good reason: those houses that Stanley saw were on fire, some of the flames actually jumped from one house to another or jumped to the ground shaped like miniature ponies or imps and chased after other ponies, almost like they were alive. Eventually he found Twilight in the center of town among a group of unicorns, directing said unicorns to different fires before they headed out.

"Twilight!" he called out as he approached her. "What's going on?! Why is there green fire spreading all over town?!"

"I don't know about why it's here, but what I do know is what kind of fire it is: enchanted fire. It's a type of magical fire that comes to life with one purpose in mind: to burn everything it can touch."

"Living fire that wants to burn everything? WHO CAME UP WITH THAT KIND OF THING?!"

"I know. What's worse is that the only way to put it out is with magic, so I've gathered every unicorn -"

"Wait, hold on! Did you say 'magic'?" 

"Yes! Like I said, that's why I'm gathering every unicorn in town to put it out. But even with all of the unicorns here, I'm not sure we'll be enough."

"...I think I know how I can help."

"What? How?"

"Just promise me that you will keep it a secret, and then everything will be okay."

"...alright. I promise."

Satisfied, Stanley pulled off his saddle bag and pulled out his well-guarded mask ("Please, help everyone out just this once."). Once he had a good grasp on it, he put it on. And when I say he put it on, I mean that as soon as it got close enough it actually jumped onto his face and began to stretch all over his head, to Twilight's horror. Within four seconds, Stanley suddenly spun like a twister, going from blue to yellow as he swiftly sped around the center of town before stopping and standing in the middle of town. And lo and behold, Stanley was no longer Stanley. Standing on his hind hooves, dressed in a yellow zoot suit with a matching hat and a red tie with black spots, stood Stanley's alter ego. This was the legendary sometimes-hero of Edge City, the Mask.

"Sssssssssssssssmokin'!"