//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Problems // Story: Masks // by Free2424 //------------------------------// I've always had problems with other people, and with good reason too. People never seem to tell me the important facts first, it's always on a side note like, "Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you that your grandmother's dead," or "By the way, I left the front door unlocked last night and half of your stuff was stolen." I hate it when people do that! It pisses me off to no end! And it's happened to me twice this week! Sorry for that, I'm just having a very difficult time right now. Let me explain, it started the day after I wrote my last entry. The sun shone upon the castle courtyard as I fired another arrow into a hay target. I took a deep breath to calm myself further and grabbed another arrow from my quiver. I loaded my bow and looked at the target again, clearing my mind. I raised my bow and pulled the string back, my eyes never leaving the target. I aimed my shot and released. *Thunk* I smiled, Right in the middle! I took another deep breath and reached out for another arrow. When my hand hit nothing, I realized I had used all of my arrows. I placed my bow down on to the grass and walked out to the target, grabbing an arrow and pulling it out. I walked back to my makeshift line, picked up my bow, got into a comfortable stance, and loaded an arrow. I relaxed, drew my bow aimed an— *click, click, click, click...* The sound of scales on stone reached my ears. I sighed and stopped, unloaded my bow, and turned to see Judith walking towards me along the cobblestone path that leads into the courtyard. We made eye contact and I noticed something: her eyes were red. She's been crying... Worried, I put my bow down and my arrow back in my quiver, then walked over to Judith. Judith ran to me, wrapping her arms around my midsection and started to weep. Her tears dampened my shirt as I held her close to my chest. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked gently. Judith shook her head, spreading the tears across my shirt. After a while, she managed to calm down enough to speak, so I sat her down on the grass. "T-today's the day m-my m-mother died..." she said quietly. I nodded my head in empathy, Yep, that explains why she's been crying, I thought. Judith rubbed her eyes, "H-how do you d-deal with it? *snif* I-I mean, you're never going t-to see or h-hear or..." I held her head as she started to cry again. "Let it out, Judith. Just let it all out," I comforted, running my fingers along her scales and rocking her back and forth. "I know what you're going through right now, and I know what you're feeling. The truth is, the pain never goes away, it always lingers around your mind." "It's not fair..." she lamented. "Nothing ever is." We sat there for what seemed like hours. Eventually, we laid down on the grass together, looking up at the clouds. Judith calmed down enough to joke around after a while. "We need your help," Judith said, catching my attention. I rolled my head over to look at her, "With what?" Judith sat up and I followed suit. "My father..." she said in a dark tone. "We should discus this with Lea, he knows more than I do." Judith got up and walked towards the castle. I got up, got my bow and arrows, and caught up to her as we entered the castle. After pushing my plate out in front of me, I picked up my toothpick and scratched away at the food in my teeth. "So, what exactly do you need my help with?" Judith, who sat in front of me, sighed, "Can you tell him? I'm not sure how to tell him." Lea, who sat at the head of the table, nodded. "It's a long story, so get comfortable," he said. "It all started when our father got his claws on a certain human mask that one of the many dragon archaeology teams had found. Now, they've found masks like this one before, but this one seemed... dark. It seemed to give anyone around it a very bad vibe. "Father said that he'd heard rumors of a mask that could grant wishes, and that he believed that the mask they found was the same one. So, he put it on. I still don't know why he wanted to make a wish, perhaps he wanted to bring back mother... but that's irrelevant now. "The changes weren't immediate, but they did come. He got crueler and seemed to ignore us, but then something happened that nobody ever expected. Our father got dark powers, which he used to become the king. I tried to stop him, but he was too strong! Then, he sentenced me, his son, to death... Judith broke me out, and now here we are. "I've been sneaking off to see some friends at Vulkan, the dragon capital. Apparently, they've been setting up a rebellion against my father and keeping tabs on him for me." I nodded in understanding, "I have few questions, if you don't mind answering them?" "Ask away," Lea said. "Okay then, how do you think I could possibly help?" "Simple," Judith responded, "you've been studying those masks more than we have, and we thought that you might have seen this mask somewhere before. Then, we could find a way to weaken our father and get that mask off!" "Alright, I see your logic. Can you show me what the mask looks like?" Judith got up, "I knew you were going to ask this, so I drew a picture. Just wait for a second..." she then ran away. A few minutes later, she came back down and over to me. She slid a piece of paper in front of me with a drawing of a heart shaped mask. No... I thought, No... this is impossible... it can't be! "A-are you sure that t-this is the mask?" "Yes. Why? Have you seen it before?" Lea asked, leaning in to hear my answer. "I only have one more question for you..." I said, my voice getting darker. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" "It's our problem, and only our problem. We didn't want to get others involved." "Only your problem?" Lea looked up at the amount of venom that laced my voice. "Only your problem!?" I slammed my hands on to the table and rising to my feat, "This isn't only your problem, Lea!" I practically spat is name at the end. "Well then who's problem is it then?! Is it your's?!" He yelled, rising to his feat. Judith was cowering away from us now. "The entire world's! This mask has more power than you could ever imagine!" I stormed towards the exit, but turned before I left, "You wanted my advice?! Your fucked!" I slammed the door behind me and leaned against it. Tears were flowing down my face as I fell to the ground. I had just stormed around the castle for who knows how long, until I confined myself in this room. Not only did I just find out that one of the most powerful villains from a video game is in a position of power and probably has an entire army at his disposal, but that mere picture had managed to resurface some retained memories of my family. The pain and regret of the past seven years cut through me like a sword through flesh. I managed to look up, to see where I was. The sight of instruments filled my vision. The music room... I thought. I looked towards the various instruments, but only one of them caught my eye. I composed myself as best as I could and walked over to the black grand piano in the corner of the room. I sat down on the bench that was placed in front of the piano and lifted the fall (the part of the piano that covers the keys). My fingers grazed the white and black keys as I thought of a song to play. Well, there's that song, but it might make me feel worse... I remembered the first time I had heard that song: it was with my family. Fuck it, I don't care any more... I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I started to play. I thought about my brother and mother. They both died when I was fifteen. My brother and I didn't get along very well, but I still loved him. Just before he died, we got into a fight, a really bad one. He left to cool off, and the last thing I said to him was "I hate you!" before he left. He didn't come back. He was hit by a bus that was trying to make a red light. When I got to the hospital, he was gone. A few months later, my mother got hospitalized for terminal pancreatic cancer. I stayed by her side as much as I could. A few months later, she too also passed. She was so kind to my brother and I. She taught us to be helpful, to be compassionate, and to be forgiving, not to be a selfish, narcissistic jackass. I lived with my grandparents until I was eighteen, I couldn't live with my father because he left us when I was little. Then my grandparents kicked me out into the world. I finished university and got a part time job. And now, here I am with a bunch of dragons, ponies, and magic. I ended the song with a sigh, trying to suppress a new wave of tears that threatened to erupt. Why did I have to come here? Why did my family have to die? Why me? "That was beautiful..." It took me a couple of seconds to register that someone was talking to me. I wiped away some of the tears that had managed to leak out and turned to the source of the voice. A bandaged, blue alicorn stood in front of me. She's not wearing any of her jewelry, so she must have recently awoken. Her cyan eyes didn't show any signs of aggression, only curiosity and concern. I turned away from the pony and went back to staring at the keys of the piano. "I tend to play better when I have the motivation," I said, suppressing my sorrow. Well, I might as well get some info from her while she's here, "It's good that you've regained consciousness, how do you feel?" "Sore, but alive. We thank thee for thy services," she thanked. I blinked, Wait, did she just use the royal we and Elizabethan era English? "Don't thank me, it was someone else that fixed you up. I just brought you here," I closed the piano and turned back to the mare. "I don't think I ever got your name miss...?" The mare brought her hoof to her chest and raised her head, "We are Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the night!" Luna announced. I rolled my eyes, A Princess!? I scoffed mentally. Jeez, how full of yourself can you get? "Okay, Princess, whatever you say..." I said, putting emphasis on "princess". "You dare scoff at our title!?" she said, shocked. I gave a grunt of annoyance, "Look, I don't give a flying fuck who you are, but if you dare think that you're above me, then we're going to have a problem!" Luna took a step back at my tone. "I know for a fact that you can bleed, that makes you mortal, just like me. And because of that, we're even in my book," I said, lowering my tone. I saw some movement from the door way. I looked up to see a blue blur hide behind the door. I sighed and stood, "And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go right a wrong." I walked past Luna and towards, the now visible, Judith. "Where is he?" I asked as I approached. "Lea always trains when he's frustrated, so he's probably in the courtyard," Judith answered, "Alright then," I looked back to Luna, who was staring at us with a mix of shock and anger. "I want you to get as much info from her as you can from her while I talk to Lea," I whispered to Judith. She nodded and I left to go make amends. One, two, three, four, I counted as limbs from a straw dummy came flying off. I gulped as Lea took another swing with his claymore and decapitated the dummy in front of him. Five... Well, I'm going to try and calm down a dragon, who probably wants to beat my face in, and is armed. I'd best get the first word in before he decides that I should lose a few pounds... I took a step out of my hiding place, and leaned on the wall of the castle. Lea still didn't notice me, so I took advantage of the situation. "I over-reacted, and for that, I'm sorry," I started. Lea's attention was still on the target as I continued, "It's just...That mask brought up some memories I'd rather forget." "How powerful is it?" he asked, completely ignoring my apology. "What?" "How much would it take to destroy the mask or...to kill the person wearing it...?" I paused, Would he really go as far as to kill his own father? "Luckily for you, I've never seen the second option done; and for the first...well, I'll be honest with you. It took a deity to stop it, not destroy it." "Then how do we kill it!?" Lea turned to me with a mixture of emotion in his eyes, but only one stood out to me: fear. "How do we make sure that it never sees the light of day ever again!?" Anything made by human hand can only be destroyed by human hand... Nox's voice echoed in my mind. "Why do you—!?" I retorted. "Because I've already lost my mother, Dalton! I will not lose my father as well!" he said hysterically. I could see tears start to well up in his eyes. I stood there not being able to speak as Lea fell to his knees. I need to do something to cheer him up... I thought as I looked around the area. I spotted a sword and shield at the far end of the courtyard and a idea hit me. I walked over to the weapons and picked them up: the shield in my left hand and sword in my right. "W-what are you doing?" Lea asked shakily. "If we're going up against Majora, we're going to train our asses off," I explained. I gave the sword a twirl and a swing, getting used to the weight. "Who's Majora?" Lea asked. I tuned to him, "Majora is the mask that's corrupting your father. But enough talk," I pointed my sword at him, "have at you!" I waited for Lea to get on his feat before I charged. *THUMP* "That makes it forty-two to nothing," Lea stated as he helped me stand. Fighting Lea did cheer him up, but my body couldn't take much more of his beatings. "I don't care how long this takes, I'm going to win at least once, even if it kills me!" I vowed. I charged at him and swung my blade down. He held his sword with one claw and blocked my attack, but before I could retaliate, he used his other claw to punch me in the gut, sending me off my feat and onto my stomach. "Forty-three to nothing," Lea stated. I groaned in pain, "I retract my earlier statement..." Why am I doing this again? I asked myself. Lea started laughing at my misery, Oh yea, that's right...mission accomplished, I guess. But why didn't my battle instinct kick in? Hmm...maybe it's because last time my life was in danger, and I know unconsciously that Lea wouldn't try to kill me without reason...I'll have to test this theory out later. I might even be able to activate my instinct manually if I'm correct! I got back up to my feat slowly and wobbled over to a door back into the castle. I put my sword and shield beside the door and then turned back to Lea, "I'm going to go see how your sister is doing, and then die slowly in bed." As I opened the door, Lea said, "You never answered my question from before: how do we kill Majora?" I stood in the doorway, staring into space as I answered, "Don't worry about it... I'll take care of Majora." I then walked into the castle and began my search for Judith. I guess I'll start with where I left her, I felt a pang of guilt hit me, I feel bad that I left her with that self-absorbed bitch, I hope she's okay... I thought. As I entered the music room once more, I realized something apparent; "She's not here...where could she be?" I pondered. However, my answer soon came in the sound of laughter, it was faint, but I could still hear it. I left the room and followed the sound of the two voices. It's really helpful having a musician's ears sometimes, I thought. My ears lead me to the library, where I found the door ajar. I walked in, continuing the search for my friend. Eventually, I found Judith and Luna sitting down at a table, crowded around a book. Deciding that it would be best to not be seen, I hid behind a nearby bookshelf. "...And then we said, 'Thou likest older mares? We are hundreds of years older than thou!'" The two burst out into laughter. She's hundreds of years old?! It must be a biological trait of alicorns. Well, now that I'm thinking about it, this would explain how she can fluently speak Elizabethan era English...But why does she speak that way? "It seems that all males are silly at times!" Judith giggled, "Except Dalton though, he's silly all the time! He laughs at random things sometimes, like when I told him about my brother's best friend, Davion, who's captain of the guard, he was hysterical! He kept ranting about the phrase, 'Who calls the dragon knight?'" I suppressed my laughter, Oh man, I forgot about that! Oh, that was a good day... "Speaking of the human," Luna started, "is he usually this barbaric to ponies or are we an exception?" Judith sighed, "He just doesn't like it when people act like they're better than him," she explained. "When you said you were a princess, he must have thought that you were going to treat him like dirt." Your not far off, Judith... "That does not mean that we were going to! We were merely stating our title and he had the nerve to snap at us!" "I guess your right about that..." Yea, she is...I may have acted too brashly, I thought. Judith seems fine with this mare, so I think it's time to go. I quietly made my way out of the library and slowly walked down the stone corridors towards my room. A massive sigh escaped my lips as I closed my door behind me. The stress of that day was finally taking its toll on me. My eyes traveled towards my bed, only to find the sheets to be covered in blood. Ah shit, I forgot that we let Luna use my bed, I thought. I'm gonna have to clean that up... After washing the sheets and making the bed, I went about finding something to take my mind off of what happened. My eye was caught by my pony mask. "Cutie marks are the mark on your flank that shows your special talent!" Applejack's voice rang in my mind. I never did check my cutie mark out... Picking up the mask and putting it on my face, I quickly undressed to see my equine form. My cutie mark showed a white mask with red and yellow markings depicting an eye with a tear underneath it. ...Well that's ironic... I thought. What does it mean, though? Does it mean I'm truthful? No, it's definitely not that... What about seeking the truth? No, it's not that ether... It nearly covers up my entire flank... Is it hiding my identity? What ever, I'll figure this out tomorrow. I returned to my original form and slipped into some silken pajamas I had found (yes, I wear pajamas, they're comfy, so shut it). However, I looked out the window and it looked like a clear and beautiful night out. You know what, I think I'll put off going to sleep for now, I thought. I stepped out onto the balcony and took a breath of fresh air. I stood there for what seemed like hours, staring up into the night. The sky, however, started to cloud up. I looked out over the forest to see a blanket of dark rain clouds coming towards the castle. That looks bad...Better get inside. I closed the glass door and collapsed on to my bed. Now then, it's time to get some good old shuteye... I thought as I drifted into unconsciousness. "Dalton!" a panicked voice called as my door burst open. "Nnnoooooo..." I groaned in protest. It hadn't even been an hour since I fell asleep. "Now's no time to be groaning!" Judith scolded, "Luna's gone!" That got me up. I scrambled out of bed, "Oh no, she's not gonna get herself killed and undo all the work we put into getting her back onto her fe— hooves!" And besides, I thought, Nox will kill me if I let Luna die, and she's the only one that I know right now that can answer my questions! Not bothering to put on some clothes, I raced down towards the main entrance to the castle with Judith not far behind. As we reached the entrance, I turned to Judith and said, "Stay here, she probably went into the forest and I don't want you getting hurt." I opened the door to see rain pouring from the sky, "Oh, come on..." I groaned. "Be safe!" Judith called as I ran out into the storm. I sprinted down through the town and into the forest, where I was shrouded by darkness. I began my search by trying to track her hoofprints, however her tracks were covered by mud and several other animal tracks. I soon began desperately calling out the mare's name and running around in circles throughout the forest. My hope was eroding, and I would have given up the search if not for the scream, closely followed by a monstrous roar that tore through the sound of raindrops. I ran as fast as I could towards the source of the noise and eventually came upon the sight of Luna being backed up against a tree by a manticore. Taking action, I ran in between Luna and the beast and raised my arms, as if to scare away a bear. It roared again shaking the ground beneath my feet, but I stood my ground and gave my own battle cry. I reached for my sword, only to find that I left it back at the castle. Then, I reached for my masks, but like my sword, it too was left at the castle. In confusion, I looked back to where my mask pouch should have been. Bad move. I was lifted off my feet as I was struck in the torso by one of the manticore's massive paws. I slammed into a tree and heard a sick popping noise as a wave of agony went up my shoulder. The manticore made its way back over to Luna, who was desperately trying to get the device off of her horn. Ignoring the pain from my chest and arm, I returned to my place between the two. The manticore gave a third roar and I shouted back at it, "Come on!" Duck! Nox's voice echoed in my mind. I ducked underneath a swipe from the manticore and took the window of opportunity to strike. I shot my good arm out and slid my fingers behind it's eye, clenched my hand, then pulled out with the manticore's eye still in my grasp. The beast let out an ear piercing roar of pain as it recoiled back. "Come on, cat! Is that all you got?!" I screamed. The monster seemed to be... scared? "What's the matter?! Aren't you ready to die!? Because I am!" The manticore shot me one last glare before scampering into the forest. I fell to my knees, I just went up against a manticore unarmed and in my pajamas...and I won! My attention turned to the eye still in my hand, I'm keeping this as a trophy, I don't care what anyone else says. I slowly got up to my feet, the pain in my arm and chest was restricting my movement. I walked up to Luna, she started apologizing, but I interrupted her. "I'm giving you a choice," I started, "You can keep going through the forest, maybe make it to safety, maybe get eaten by a manticore, or you can come with me back to the castle, get better, and then I'll get you back to... wherever you came from safely. Your choice..." Then, I started walking back towards the castle with one arm limp and the other clutching my middle. "Wait!" Luna called out. "Will thou wait for one second!?" I stopped and waited for the Luna to catch up to me. She limped over to me and we continued together. I'm glad she's not a complete idiot... As we painfully walked through the rain, the pain from the manticore's strike seemed to get worse withe each breath and step I took. "Art thou alright? Thou seems to be in terrible pain," Luna asked, concerned. "Yea I'm in some pain right now," I confirmed, "but it's nothing I can't handle." Luna still had concern in her eyes, but she dropped it. Eventually, we made it back to the castle. Good god! It took forever to get here! The pain is starting to get really bad! The door was open and Judith was standing in the doorway, waiting for us. She ran out as soon as she saw us and helped Luna inside, leaving me to waddle into the entrance. I saw both dragon siblings looking over Luna, making sure that none of her wounds reopened. I leaned up against the wall and waited for them to finish their examination. When he was finished, Lea looked to me and visibly flinched, "What the hell happened to you? You look like shit," he stated. "Believe me when I say it feels a lot worse than it looks." I paused to suppress the pain. "I think I dislocated my shoulder, and my ribs are either fractured or bruised really badly," I groaned. I continued to swallow my pain as Lea left Luna and came over to examine me. He started with my arm. His tail came towards me as he took my arm with both claws, "Bite my tail when I put the bone back into place, it will help with the pain." he ordered me. I did as I was told and put the scaly appendage in my mouth. I bit down hard as Lea reset the bone, I nearly passed out from the pain. "Th-thanks," I whimpered as Lea went to my ribs next. He examined them, occasionally prodding them with his finger and I would flinch whenever he did. I got bored of watching Lea poke me, so I turned my attention to Judith to see whatever she was doing, but she wasn't there, and neither was Luna. Lea stood up with a sigh, "Well, your ribs, as far as I can tell, are not broken, but are severely bruised," he explained. "You're going to need to at least try to breath normally and to get sleep. I'll try to find some ice, or something cold to reduce the pain and swelling, but for now, let's get you to bed." He helped me stand and walked me to my room, me using him as a crutch. "Thanks..." "You've already said that," Lea stated. "No, I mean thanks for staying..." I groaned. "What do you mean?" "I mean that you could have left a long time ago with Judith...I would probably be insane right now if you had left!" I chuckled, "But you're still here with me, and I'm glad of that..." Lea let out a hum of understanding, "Well, you may be the only chance I have of getting my father back to normal..." He paused to think for a while. "I'll make you a deal," I turned my head to him, "I promise to keep you alive if you save my father, sound good?" "Yea," I replied, "sounds good." We reached the bedroom and I slowly crawled into bed. Jesus, I'm tired...ah, bed! My old friend! I'm so happy to see you again! Not bothering to take a shower, I pulled the sheets over me as I put the eye on my nightstand. "What's that?" Lea asked, pointing towards the bloody eye. "That's a manticore's eye," I yawned. Lea seemed to get annoyed at that remark, "You went up against a manticore, in your pajamas?" "Yep." Lea face-palmed, "I immediately regret my deal with you..." he said as he left the room. "Good night to you too, Lea!" I called. Exhaustion eventually took over, and I fell to sleep. I was awoken from my dreamless sleep by the sound of my door opening. I rolled over to greet my visitor, but I was surprised by who entered. "May we enter?" Luna asked sounding a bit nervous. I nodded my head and she took up a seat beside the bed. "How art thou feeling this morning?" she asked. "Believe it or not, I've felt worse..." I moaned in reply. "What do you want from me?" Luna gave a sigh and hung her head, "We..." she paused, "we wish to apologize for the way we've been treating thou. It has been unfair, thou hath gone out of thy way and put thyself in front of a manticore to save our life..." I thought for a moment about how I should respond, Well, she has caused me a lot of trouble, I thought, but if I tell her to fuck off, she'll might try to run off again and Judith would get pissed at me. On the other hand, if I'm a pushover and let her off scot-free, she might think I'm mocking her apology... "Okay, fine..." I waved my hand lazily at her and rolled over, facing away from her. "Apology accepted, now let me sleep..." Luna didn't move, "W-what?! Thy words confuse us, human. Art thou not angry with us?" "My name is Dalton and no, I hold no malice towards you whatsoever. I will if you don't leave right now and let me sleep," I explained. Luna didn't say anything after that. After a few moments, she quietly got up and left. However, when the door close, a new conversation started. "How did it go?" Asked Judith, who I heard through the door. There was a pause, then Luna spoke, "We're not sure..." "What do you mean you're not sure?! Is he angry with you or not?!" "He said he is not angry, but—" "Then it went well!" Judith cheered. "Dalton's a very truthful person; if he says he's not angry, then he's not angry! Now c'mon, I want to show you the rest of the castle!" I heard their steps echo through the halls as the walked away. I mentally sighed, If only that were true, Judith. You still don't know what's beneath my lies... After trying for a couple of minuets to go back to sleep, I eventually quit my efforts and got up. I waddled into the bathroom and took a good look at myself in the mirror. Damn...Lea was right, I do look like shit! Several cuts and scratches covered my face, including a long cut above my left eyebrow that had bled enough to cover the left side of my face. Luckily, the blood had dried and the wound was closed. I should put some antiseptic gel on those cuts before they get infected, I thought. Next was my ribs. I lifted my shirt to see a massive bruise cover the side of my torso that the manticore hit. Ouch...I may want to take it easy for a couple of days. I washed the dry blood off my face and then disinfected the cuts. Afterwards, I grabbed some clothes —a green tunic and my black track pants— and proceeded to take a shower. I came out much more awake and... well, clean! I stepped back into the bedroom to find my sheet covered with dirt and blood, again. I sighed, I should take care of those first, then I'll figure out what I'm going to do next. I really hate washing bed sheets here. You wanna know why? Because there's no washing machine here! Really, there's showers, toilets, and even sinks, but no washing machines! So I have to go down to the river and wash them by hand, which is time consuming and annoying. I made my way down to the river with the sheets bundled up in my arms. I found myself drifting out of consciousness, listening to the bird songs was putting in a trance. When I got to the river, I failed to notice Luna staring into the water until I was right next to her. "Good evening," she greeted quietly. I was curious why she was so depressed, but I thought better of it, It's none of my business. "Good evening? Isn't it morning?" I asked. She looked at me with a deadpan face, then she pointed up. I looked where I was directed and saw that the sun was already past it's zenith. "Huh, I must have slept in..." I thought out loud. I got to work washing the sheets, dunking them into the water and scrubbing them vigorously. I worked in silence until I was half way done, then Luna asked, "Did thou mean it?" "Mean what?" I replied. "Thou said, in the Everfree, that thou were prepared to die. Did thou mean those words?" I stopped and thought about it, but eventually I nodded, "Yea, I did mean what I said..." "Why art thou ready to die?" she asked disbelievingly. I sighed and stared into the water, "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'Water as far as the eye can see, and not a drop to drink'?" she shook her head. "Well, back in my world, I didn't have a lot of friends. Now, I usually say that it's because my past 'friends' used me, but I just really didn't like people. It seemed like everyone I met was a narcissistic, snob. I could be in a crowd of people and be paranoid of them all! I felt alone. Completely and utterly alone...and before you say, 'what about your family?' they're dead or dead to me." "Well, can thou not start anew here in Equestria?" Luna asked. I laughed, "Yea, I'm sure no one will notice a member of an extinct species walking down the street!" "Young Judith has been telling us that thou possesses the ability to change form," Luna countered. "And live behind a mask for my entire life? No thanks, I already have enough issues as it is." Luna was silent after that. I finished my chore and gathered up the soaking sheets in my arms, which got my tunic all wet. Damn it. I walked back to the castle with Luna in tow. When I reached my makeshift clothes line, which was made up of extra bow strings that I had found, I started to hang up the sheets. My mind began to wander as I completed my mundane chore, She's probably just trying to grasp the fact that I wouldn't care if I died. Speaking of Luna, She never explained why she was unconscious in the Everfree... "You know," I started, "you never told me why I found you in the forest in the first place." Luna sighed, it seemed like she was dreading this moment. "We knew thou would ask that eventually..." she lamented. "'Tis a very long tale, would thou still like to hear it?" "I've got time," I responded. "Well then, we must first tell thou the tale of Nightmare Moon..." and so, she told me her tale. She told me about how she was over shadowed by her sister, how she was jealous of her sisters popularity, how her jealousy grew into hate, and how both the hate and jealousy changed her into the being known as Nightmare Moon. After attacking her sister, Nightmare was sealed on the moon by her sister, Celestia, and the "Elements of Harmony" —whatever they are— for one thousand years. Until a year ago, she escaped the moon and was changed back into her normal self again by the same elements of harmony. "...And now, some of my subjects still think that we are Nightmare Moon in disguise. The night thou found me, they snuck into the castle and tried to foalnap us, to protect our sister. They managed to put a magic suppressor on our horn before we escaped," she said, pointing to the device on her horn. "They chased us into the Everfree, and when we were looking to see if we had lost them..." Luna stopped and looked away, blushing, "...we flew into a tree..." I chuckled, "Don't be embarrassed, I've had my fair share of running into things." I had finished hanging the sheets and was laying on the ground starring at the sky next to Luna, who was sitting on her rump. On the outside, I was smiling, but on the inside, I was flipping shit, Her story matches the history book in Twilight's library! The book said that Celestia had a sister, but I never got to her name! I'm pretty sure that it started with an... I looked at Luna, ...L... Luna returned my gaze, "What? Is there something wrong?" ...Princess Luna... "Uh... no, nothing's wrong," I responded, returning my gaze to the sky. ...I've been treating a princess like dirt...I'm not gonna lie to myself, I might get beheaded if I let her leave with a bad impression of me, I thought. I sighed and sat up, "Look, Luna, I just want to apologise for the way I've been treating you..." Luna put a hoof over my mouth to silence me, "We understand why thou hath had a foul mood these past days, Judith told us," she explained. "This is the reason why we apologised this morning." I nodded my head in understanding, "Alright then, if you have any questions for me, just ask and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge," I said, getting up and stretching. "Actually, um..." she started. I looked at her and looked up at me, "would thou accompany us to the library? We wish to read about human biology," she asked. I complied, and we set off to the library. After teaching Luna about basic human biology, I gave her a few books on the subject and left to do find Judith. I wanted to start looking for the third mask of soul right away. After all, it wasn't going to find itself. I wandered the halls of the castle looking for the little blue dragon, until I heard a faint noise. Is that... a piano I hear? I thought. I made my way to the music room to find the source of the noise. I found Judith sitting in front of the piano, pressing random notes with one of her claws. I walked up and sat beside her, "Whatcha doing?" I asked. She looked at me, then back to the piano, "My mother used to play the piano. She would always play it so beautify, and I would wonder how she could make people happy with just music..." she explained. "So, you're reminiscing?" I asked. She nodded and I asked, "Well, do you want to learn?" Judith looked at me with wonder, "Yes, I would!" I started teaching her the piano. I showed her the different finger movements, keys, chords, and scales. I taught her about classical, jazz, and a bunch of other types of music. Now, I don't teach music, but I think that I did a pretty good job. I told her she would need lots of practice and she said she would practice every day if it would make her as good as her mother. She was smiling as she learned, which made me happy that I could make her happy. Eventually, her claws started to cramp and she stopped, but before we left to go searching for the mask, she asked me to play her a song. So, I did. I let my hands soar over the keys as I played a calming tune for her. I imagined myself glide through the night sky, gazing at the cities and towns that were below me, and admiring the natural beauty that lay before me. "That was amazing..." Judith complimented when I finished. "Thanks, it's one of my favorite songs to play," I stated. "Now can we look for the mask?" The riddle was pretty easy. Apparently, the mask is in some human ruins in the frozen north, just below The Crystal Empire. Luna over heard us and told us that she had been there before on a archaeological expedition. It was soon deemed too dangerous because the ruins were filled with booby traps. She told us that they sealed the ruins off when they were done so that nobody accidentally stumbled into it. So I need explosives. Yea, explosives, like dynamite. We talked to Lea and he said that there were some sticks of dynamite in the armory at Vulkan, but we would have to sneak in and steal it. I don't like that choice, but it's the only one I have. Well, there you have it. The rest of the week was spent planning with Lea on how we were going to sneak into Vulkan, and trying to repair the relationship between Luna and I. I still take a moment at night to stare into the sky and be awed by its beauty. Well I am exhausted. I think I'll go to bed now. P.S. I found out that I can transport more items with me somewhere if I change form before hand, equip them, then turn back. So, to dumb it down, I can carry my sword and shield on my dragon form, and my hunting equipment on my human form.