Behind the Masks

by Troutking


Town (2)


Ponyville came alive within a few short moments of Twilight beginning her walk towards the spa. Friendly smiles and joyful greetings brightened her day further as she meandered through the town. As she breathed in the scent, she mentally danced through memories of the last year and much she had changed for the better. It was almost as if nothing had occurred at the wedding a few months ago, with how everyone around town seemed to act. Almost as if they had forgotten the events of the wedding, which had been just a few months prior. The changelings seemed to be only a distant memory, now that she looked back on it.


Twilight resumed her journey to the meet up with her friends. Looking around, she spotted various ponies setting up their stands for the business day ahead. The entire town seemed to be filled with life as she approached the town center. Shadows of pegasi flying above her flitted about her vision. The sounds of clopping hooves on stone played into her ears. Filling her nose were the scents of apples floating through the air. The sweet smell drew her towards the small apple cart being set up by Applejack, near Sugar Cube Corner.


Twilight took a small detour in order to meet her friend. Looking up after finishing setting up her stand, Applejack noticed the unicorn walking toward her. She gave a hearty smile and a wave, before walking out in front of her stand to greet her.


"Howdy Twi, gotta say I didn't expect you be awake this early, considerin' how impatient you were yesterday about studyin' that book Spike found."


"Why would I not be awake?"


Applejack smiled at Twilight. "Cause ya tend to spend entire nights studyin."


"Well I didn't study all night."


Applejack deadpanned. "Spike told ya to go to bed, didn't he?"


"No..." Twilight looked away from Applejack's eyes.


Applejack began to give a hearty chuckle. "Twi, you’re as bad a liar as me, but I suppose that makes yah a better friend. Anyway I gotta get back to my apple stand, see ya around."


"Alright... bye Applejack"


Watching as the mare returned to her stand, Twilight continued on her way towards the spa. Just as Twilight turned away from the stand, a single voice rung out.


I hope sales go better than yesterday... it spoke out in a dejected tone.


Spinning around, Twilight looked at the stand once more. All she saw was Applejack talking to a customer by her stand. She began to walk forward. The voice no longer rang in her ears, but the words were burned into her mind. Wondering if it was Applejack or some other pony who had spoken, Twilight continued to venture into the town.


Twilight trotted towards the large building that was known as the Ponyville spa. A large purple peaked roof contrasted against the white walls that made up the spa. Scattered around the spa were a few trees and other such greenery. Apart from the large sign in front of the building, it would be almost indistinguishable from any other building in Ponyville. The daily sounds of Ponyville had become a minimal background noise in Twilight's ears. She took deep calming breaths as she walked, filling her lungs with fresh summer air each time.


As she entered the building, Twilight was greeted by two of her friends. Both Rarity and Fluttershy were waiting in a small circular room with two medium sized couches on opposite sides of the room. A small corridor led towards the rest of the spa. Various aromas filled her nose and lungs.


Smiling, Twilight addressed her friends. "Hey girls, sorry I'm late. I got a bit distracted by trying to figure a spell out this morning."


"Oh, don't worry about it Twilight. Angel bunny was being just a little stubborn about his food this morning, so I was late too." Fluttershy gave a soft smile to Twilight.


"Yes, and it wouldn't have really mattered if you were late or not, darling. The spa twins seemed to have double booked our appointment. So in the end it worked out for everyone. Also we got a free session for the trouble, so that's a plus."


"So how much longer do you think they are going to be?"


"Relax, Twilight, they said it would only be a few more minutes."


Twilight trotted to the couch where Fluttershy was sitting and sighed. "Sorry, I think I might be going a little crazy is all. This spell is strange so; I can't seem to get it out of my head."


"I'm sure it will come to you Twilight... It always does."


"Fluttershy's right, no point in worrying about it. Especially not here during your relaxation time, besides weren't you talking about that pony that worked as a patent clerk before making some sort of discovery? Maybe all you need is a bit of time off from all that studying."


"Yah, I guess you two are right." Twilight slouched further on the couch as she sighed.


The ponies remained in the waiting room for a short while until a pink mare with a light blue mane appeared behind the office desk. Wearing a gentle smile, the mare began to speak.


"We are ready for your appointment for three. I take it you will all have the usual?"


"Yes, that would be wonderful." Rarity began to lead her friends into the main area of the spa.


Twilight trotted beside Rarity. "The usual?"


"Don't worry about it dear. It's absolutely wonderful, isn't that right Fluttershy?"


"Um... yeah it's really great Twilight..."


"Alright, if you say so."


The three mares were greeted inside of the spa by a few staff and quickly led towards the sauna. Filling her lungs and her very pores, Twilight breathed in the steam for a short time in an attempt to relax. For a moment, she drifted off from the conversation of her two friends, simply being taken by the steam.


"Twilight, while I agree beauty sleep is important; it should be done at home."


Twilight gave a small yawn. "Sorry, it seems my lack of sleep has finally caught up to me."


"We could postpone this spa date if you want, Twilight. I mean... it's not like this is the only day we can do it."


"No, it's alright Fluttershy. I'm just a little tired is all. All I need is some rest and I'll be good as new."


"I hope so, darling."


I hope she is ok... A voice echoed within Twilight's mind but this time with a definitive direction.


Twilight turned her head towards the direction of the voice. She took a moment and gazed into the thick fog before seeing a vague shadow hidden within the mist. What is that... Squinting a bit more in an attempt to better clarify an image of the figure, Twilight was quickly jolted back to her friends.


"Twilight, dear are you alright? You appear to have been absorbed in something." Twilight looked toward Rarity.


"Oh, it's just I think I saw a..." She began to point at the location of the shadow only for it not be there at all. "Uh... I guess I saw nothing..."


"Are you sure you're alright? I've read that sleep deprivation can do all sorts of problems."


"Yes, I'm fine. I think it's just the steam getting to my head is all."


"Well luckily, the steam treatment is just about over."


The ponies were quickly whisked away from the steam room back into main area. Twilight stood beside her friends as the spa ponies smothered most of her face with some sort of cream. Once again, they were taken to another station within the spa. For a few brief moments, Twilight felt like she could relax. Pounding on her back quickly shattered that feeling as she received a massage alongside Rarity and Fluttershy. For the next several minutes, Twilight was brought to various stations to relax her only to be brought to a new station just when she started to feel relaxed. The back and forth finally stopped at the end of the "usual" Rarity had asked for. The last station of the entire spa trip was soak in a giant wooden tub big enough for quite a few ponies to easily fit inside of it. Allowing the water to push against her fur, Twilight finally felt that she could relax.


"Rarity, how was that deal with...um..."


"I, uh, well, you see dear, I suppose it... didn't go quite as I expected"


"Oh my, what happened?"


"Well you see, he was a bit more...what's the word... pretentious than most of my usual customers. He seemed to think..." Twilight drifted off from the chatter of the two mares as she sunk into a trance.


She floated there, completely relaxed from all outside disturbances. Twilight’s mind began to wander from topic to topic. At first, it was about the spell and the various tests she could do to see if it had an effect. Eventually the heat from the tub seemed to just washed away all of her thoughts. Back and forth, the small waves in the tub washed against her. Bliss filled her mind until a sudden voice spoke.


I can't afford to keep giving him this much leeway... he'll drive me into the ground from the expenses alone.


The voice startled Twilight out of her trance. Rising a little bit out of the water, she peered in the direction that the voice seemed to come from. For a single brief moment, she caught a glance of a figure much like Rarity. The figure stood still hiding its face from view and allowing a single cold grey eye to stare at Twilight. She took a moment to sort out her thoughts before looking beside her in the tub to see Rarity still conversing with Fluttershy. Twilight turned back to the figure only to see it vanish. Flabbergasted by the sudden appearance and disappearance of the figure, Twilight rose from the tub and proceeded to the blocker.


The two mares took notice of Twilight's sudden departure from the tub, "Twilight, are you alright?"


"Uh... yah, I just need to check something..."


The unicorn proceeded to the blocker cautiously. Thoughts bubbled around in her mind. Maybe this is what the spell does… Many ideas seemed to whiz through her head trying to figure out if the spell really did have an effect. When she was only a few feet away, Twilight extended her magical grip to the blocker. Every fiber of her being wanted to know if this was the spell or something else. With one quick breath she pulled down the blocker to reveal an empty horn filing station. Calming down slightly she backed away only for another thought to pop into her head. Maybe whatever it was hid behind another blocker! Quickly rushing back to the blockers, the unicorn thoroughly scanned the filing stations for any indication something else was there.


"Twilight, are you sure you are alright? I mean, it's ok if you're not."


The mare turned to her friends, removing her face of surprise. "I'm fine; I think I've had enough of the tub though... heh...sorry I had to cut the session short."


"It's quite alright, Twilight dear."


"Yah, it's fine Twilight... you should head home and get some rest."


"Thanks for including me, girls."


"Our pleasure, Twilight."


Twilight calmed down as she approached the door. A quick thought passed through her mind. Maybe the spell made me crazy. She gave a tiny laugh at the notion that there was such a spell and moved on.


Twilight began to make her way out of the spa, leaving her two friends to themselves. Occasionally Twilight would look to the sides in case that the mysterious figure would be there watching her like before. Luckily, no figure appeared anywhere. Content, Twilight proceeded out of the spa and back towards the town square. The busy streets seemed to slow down since the last time she was here. Fewer ponies were rushing to place-to-place or trying to set up their stand before everyone else’s. It was as if time had slowed in Ponyville. Twilight began to clear her mind of the events that transpired, simply blaming them on stress and overworking. Adopting a slow pace in order to take all in, Twilight proceeded through the streets of Ponyville.


As she progressed, she noticed a small cloud following behind, in the sky. Whenever she looked at it, the cloud would stop in an instant. Soon enough the cloud was directly above Twilight. The unicorn knew better and suspected that the cloud was less than innocent. She took a brief moment to collect her thoughts before firing a cloud-bursting spell directly up. In an instant, the cloud dispersed leaving a pegasus in mid-air. It took a moment for Rainbow Dash to realize she was falling, but unfortunately, it was too late. A large thud marked her landing on the hard dirt.


The pegasus mare looked up at Twilight. "Guess you saw me didn't you?"


"A single cloud following me on a supposedly cloudless day is a bit suspicious."


"I was hoping that you would be occupied thinking about... some egghead stuff like you usually do."


"Right, well, I wasn't."


"But since you're here do you think you could watch some of my new tricks? I usually get Pinkie to, but she’s pretty bogged down at Sugarcube Corner."


Twilight took a moment to think before responding. "Sure, I wasn't really going to do much when I got home anyway..."


"Awesome! Alright, I call this, The Corkscrew Loop!" The moment she finished her sentence she darted towards the sky.


Rainbow Dash began to do several spirals as she flew up. Once she reached the peak of her spiral, she just dropped down continuing to spin around and around. Flying even faster, an air cone began to form around Rainbow Dash signifying her approach to the famous Sonic Rainboom. The startling boom of the Rainboom echoed out as rainbow trailed the pegasus. Rainbow Dash pulled up but continued to spin in a spiral making the rainbow trail spiral as well. Soon enough she began to do loops, keeping up a constant speed in order to have the rainbow trail her. Twilight in awe of the spectacular trick her friend had pulled off.


Even with this I won't able to get into the Wonderbolts will I? Once more a voice reached her.


Twilight spun around looking for the source of the voice. A little ways away under an oak tree was a single solitary figure standing completely still just staring at Twilight. The shape almost seemed familiar yet it felt distinctly different than anything she has ever met before. A shiver moved down Twilight's back the more she stared at the figure.


"Twilight? Were you looking away the entire time?"


Snapping back to Rainbow Dash, Twilight took a moment sort her mind. "Oh... um, I missed everything after the first loop unfortunately. I kinda got distracted by that pony over there."


"Where?"


"Just over the..." When she looked back to the location of the figure, nothing was there.


"Twilight, I think you might need to get your eyes checked. There isn't anybody over there."


"I...uh..." Twilight blinked several times before snapping out of her stupor. "I think the sleep deprivation is hitting me harder than I thought it would..."


"Heh, do another all-nighter, Twilight?"


"Yah, I would have probably stayed up later if it weren't for Spike."


"Well, get some rest. Then maybe later I can show you my sweet tricks again when I have your full attention."


"Alright, Rainbow Dash."


"Yah, well I better get going. My shift starts soon." Before another word could be uttered, the rainbow pony was gone.


Sighing, Twilight continued back to her library for some well-needed rest. Her mind was far from the ease it was at before. The multiple sightings of the shadowy figures had gotten wrapped around her mind. Keeping her eyes watching the path in front of herself, Twilight talked to herself about what she had seen.


"If they were just caused from my lack of sleep then why do I get that feeling when I see them? I mean, I've done all-nighters before yet none of them had this drastic of an effect on me..." She mumbled to herself.


"Maybe I'm projecting what I subconsciously think the others might feel as a manifestation due to sleep loss. Or it could be that spell from last night but it didn't seem to do anything..."


Time passed as the unicorn wandered through the town, keeping her attention more on the problem at hand than the road itself. Ponies and other entities were almost like ghosts to her as she trotted. Unknowing and uncaring of what was in front of her, Twilight collided with another pony on the street. The collision knocked her out of her deep thought.


"Hey," cried the mare she collided into.


"Oh, uh... sorry, I was so wrapped up in thought I wasn't looking where I was going."


"Well... since you said sorry then I suppose it's alright." The mare looked at the town clock for a brief moment, "Oh shoot, I'm going to be late!"


The mare had dashed off without another word, leaving Twilight in the middle of the street. Shaking off the recent collision, she got up and began her trek once more.


I hope he doesn't hate me for what I did... A voice copying the mare's whispered in Twilight's head.


Without realizing it, Twilight had already turned towards the location of the voice by instinct. Hidden in the shadows of an alley was a figure. It was obviously feminine and very much resembled the mare she had met only a moment ago. Like a moth to a flame, Twilight couldn't help but walk closer to the figure. The only thing she could make out were the eyes. Cold and empty eyes that just stared at her. Drawing closer to the figure, Twilight could still not see past the shadows that hide it's features. Just as Twilight came only a few meters away, a solid object crashed into her side. Dazed, Twilight lost track of the figure. Staring at the object that had hit her, Twilight saw the party pony of Ponyville smiling directly at her with the usual enthusiasm.


"Pinkie, what are you doing?"


"Didn't you know, Twilight? It's Tackle Hug day! See your best friend and give 'em a big ol'tackle hug! I mean, it's not a huge holiday so it's understandable if you didn't know about it but then again who wouldn't know about a day that's as a great as this? I mean you can give your friends tackle hugs! What could be better than that? OH! Wait, unless you have double tackle hug day! That would mean you tackle hug your friends twice as much! Oh my gosh that would be super-duper ultra ruper awestacularistic!" Pinkie spoke in a near blur of words.


"Wait, Tackle Hug day?"


"Yah, Rainbow Dash told me about it on her way to work. She said you would love to get a tackle hug and I was like since it's tackle hug day it would be a perfect time to tackle hug her and then Rainbow Dash was all like 'Why didn't I think of that?' and I was like because I did and then she was like "Yah, your right!' then she left and I went searching for you so I could give you a super tackle hug just like you wanted!"


Twilight was almost in awe of the lightning speed at which Pinkie spoke. "So you're saying Rainbow Dash, told you about Tackle Hug Day, which no one else knew about before and told you I wanted to be tackled hugged when I've given no indication of such?"


"Yup!"


A large sigh escaped her mouth. "Pinkie, I think Rainbow Dash was just pulling your leg about Tackle Hug Day in order to get back at me for ruining her prank."


"So there isn't a Tackle Hug Day?"


"No, Pinkie there isn't a tackle hug day."


"Oh..." Pinkie looked down at the ground almost depressed.


"Huh, unless you want there to be a Tackle Hug Day..."


"Yay, happy Tackle Hug day, Ponyville!" Pinkie shouted.


Rubbing her head, Twilight returned to the conversation. "Yah, happy Tackle Hug day... wait, Pinkie don't you have work now?"


"Nope! Mr and Mrs Cake gave me the rest of the day off because I was such a hard worker! I'm free all day!"


"Right... anyway Pinkie I got to be going. I've need to catch up on some rest."


"Okey dokey lokey!"


Do they not want this me around? Spoke a soft voice.


Twilight looked around for the figure like usual but saw nothing. It appeared as though the voice had misled her. A sigh of relief escaped Twilight's mouth as she turned around to head home. Instead, she turned to face dead eyes that stared into her very soul. All she could do was scream and back away from the figure.