//------------------------------// // The Arrival // Story: Masked // by Ice Fire //------------------------------// Hm-hm-hmmmm... Wha? This is on? Oh! Okay. So, Starsky's in the bathroom. He ate one too many tacos last night. You, uh, probrably didn't need to know that, but-- I'm back! Ice, why were you mentioning tacos? Oh, um, mmm.... Okay, onto the story. I squinted off into the distance. It was getting hard to see, because the sky had already morphed from red and orange to a light blue streak of color. I wasn't even near the entrance. I cursed under my breath for my (slightly lazy) slow pace, and began to sprint across the dirt trail. Luckily, the entrance was coming into view. Unluckily, I crashed into another pony. It was really hard to see in the dark, so I couldn't distinguish any features of her. All I knew was that she crashed into me. Thanks for the early moon rising, Luna. Though, by the light of the moon, I realized that she had deep, magenta eyes. They were (sorry, I can't help it) pretty cute. I shook off the feeling. No time for some *ick, gag* romance in this fanfic. A good fanfic should be cool. What have I told you about breaking the fourth wall? Sorry. I blurted without thinking, "Watch where you're going!" ...What? I was in a rush at that time, okay? I had no time for apologizing. I got what I deserved after that, as she shoved me and stated back, "You watch where you're going!" Then she gallopped off. I muttered quietly as I turned around and got back on track. It was only a few minutes until the moon had fully risen. I stared at it as I walked, and almost saw the image of Luna smiling down at me, as if she thought I was worthy of the title "Guardian of the Galaxy." That's a movie. Shut up. Anyways, I stared at Moon Luna so long that I wandered into some town without knowing. That town was Ponyville. I crashed face-first into a pony with a bucket of apples and he gave me a scowl. "Uh, heheh, hi." I sheepishly said. "I'm Starsky, and I'm wondering if this is--" The pony stopped me mid-sentence and spat at me, "Yeah, Starsky? Well, I'm [REDACTED] and you're in Ponyville! I paid nineteen bits for those apples!" He stomped off, intentionally bumping my shoulder on the way. "[REDACTED] is a dumb name," I muttered to myself. Wow, epic comeback. I know, right? Well, after that, I went off to look for a place to stay. There were not many ponies outside, so that was good. Thanks, Luna! Anyways, I trotted in circles around the huge tree-house-library thing, giving me a 360 degrees view. As I turned for probably the third time and looked deep, I found a "FOR RENT-40 BITS PER MONTH" sign in front of a house. Seemed legit. I cantered toward the house and stared at it. A glorious two-story building. I wanted to see if it was good enough to live in, so I opened the door and went inside. I inspected the empty living room. It had everything I needed- a couch, a drawer, a TV! "This is a place I can live in," I remarked. Then I saw the bathroom. A toilet, a sink, a few towels, and a mare showering. Good thing we don't normally wear clothes! The mare looked at me, eyes widened. My face was red, and I can feel it burning. "SORRY!!!" I yelled, immediately dashing out of the house. I turned toward the FOR RENT sign, which now said HAHA, TROLLED YOU. My eyes must've been playing tricks on me. I was pretty sleepy, after all. I then heard a snicker coming from behind me. I twirled around, but no one was there. Then I looked up. A pegasus pony laying on a cloud, laughing her wings off. I saw she was holding the FOR RENT sign. Embarrased and angered, I flew up to her and shouted, "YOU LITTLE SALTED PRETZEL! And not the good kind! You--!" Then I realized something- The pegasus had blue fur and a rainbow mane. My eyes went all slot-machiney and I recognized her quickly. Without thinking, I grabbed her and hugged her tightly, using all of my strength. Rainbow Dash gasped, "A-aagh, h-hiii..." I saw she was turning purple, and let go of her quickly. "Uh, sorry." I said as her color returned. She said, "Geez, what's your problem? Looners." Pretending that didn't sting, I tried to make her remember who I was. "Starsky? Remeber?" I said. She still looked confused. I tried again. "Wing casts! Best friend!" Rainbow slowly backed away mid-air. I had no choice but the last resort. "...Starbypoo?" I reluctantly but finally said. However, it worked! Her eyes went all slot-machiney , flashing pictures of moments me and her shared. Starbypoo was a nickname my mom gave me. When Rainbow Dash came over to my house for a hangout, my mom revealed the nickname. I was embarrassed, and Rainbow kept calling me that from then on. It was kind of better when Rainbow did it, though. Continuing, her reaction was not one I expected. Instead of hugging me and asking me how I've been, she had a horrified look on her face. "W-what, Rainbow?" I asked, worried. She stared at me and her wings just grew stiff. She fell to the ground. Surprised and scared, I flew down to her and held out my hoof so she could get up. "Rainbow! Are you okay?!" She slapped away my hoof and stammered, "J-j-just get a-away. I don't w-want you here." Then her next few words left me stunned. "Go away. I-I hate you." With that, she darted off into the cold, black, night sky, while I was left in my own cold, black, dark place.