//------------------------------//
// Mess of Strings 
// Story: Puppets of Tragedy 
// by Iridescence T Wind 
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	As luck would have it, I didn't die on impact with the bushes. But the bushes were certainly not what I had been expecting either. For one, they had thorns. Lots and lots of prickly easily piercing thorns. That made my robes both a blessing and a curse, as I had to climb out of these said bushes which meant that while my robes protected me from harm of the countless small pricks that I'd otherwise would feel. Countless said barbs were now sticking themselves into my robe, and not all of them were tearing off from their branches. But at least I had accomplished what I had been trying to do since I had first fallen through the window, so it wasn't a complete loss. 

Of course, fighting Shining Armor on top of a train was hardly on my to list, for just starting a villainous career. Eesh that stallion was relentless, but hopefully with our last fight, he'd be out long enough for me to get away from the duty bound stallion. A quick once over myself revealed that I'd probably be spending the next few hours of rest that I managed to find in removing the thorns and stitching back up the new holes in my clothing. Though the box had made it relatively intact, I couldn't say the same to the other mask I had made. The poor thing was in tattered with more thorns in it than I cared to try and remove. Guess that was what I got for trying to make it out of random bits of clothes rather than making it properly from actual foam.

But I had neither the time or power to work on a proper mask as of yet. This was mainly due to the problem of electricity that powered most of my tools. While Discord had filled this box with all sorts of things, a generator wasn't one of them. This brought me to a consensus to what I needed to do next, which was either find an already made evil lair and try to conqueror it for my own, or more likely, try to make one myself. Both feats were easier said then done. As I tromped through the woods, I had to note that there was a particular feeling of emptieness about it, which I guess was only to be expected, as Equestria had not only taken over its weather but the animals of everywhere but the Everfree forest. Sure it had a set of castle ruins that would be perfect for setting up base, but it would be a tad bit too easy to find me there. After all, it was a major landmark of the nation, even if it was rarely visited.

My inner monologue and walking was interrupted as I noticed that I had reached another edge of the woods, and instead of turning slightly to go back into it, a rather steep mountain was in my way instead. Tilting my head as far back as I could I could see the distant top of the mouth of a cave near its peak. Hmm, it struck bells in my head where I'd seen it before, and curiosity began to get the best of me as I began climbing the mountain.

All in all, night was beginning to fall as I reached the top. I had taken several breaks on the way up due to the heavy bag I had carried, and the blocked path three quarters up that I had to climb over in order to continue. A rather minor irritation but crossing it had taken a lot out of my already waning endurance. By the time I had reached the top, I was panting and gasping from exhaustion. At least I had managed to get most the thorns out of my clothes on the way up here. Looking up, I could see that the cave was much larger than it seemed, The entrance alone looked like it could allow a large blimp to easily park inside it.

Once I had regained some portion of my breath, I trudged on into the cave, albietly while crouching. Though a dirty white and blue robed figure with a scary face who was carrying a fifty some odd pound box was hardly the most sneaky of figure. As I found out, it wasn't as necessary as I had thought it to be. For one, I was met with the amazing sight of an abandoned dragon lair. The same lair, I recognized, of the dragon from dragonshy. The one she used the stare on and scared away somehow. I could tell from the massive piles of gold that were still lingering along the majority of the walls. It seems, while it was away that only a few scavengers had bothered to even come up here and loot the place of as much as they could carry. The dragon himself either never came back due to being afraid of the usually timid pony, or no one really wanted to crash the Equestrian market with this much gold.

A grin slowly began crawling up my face. Well that solved several problems I would of had in the near future. As well as my current goal. That is, if this place was still uninhabited. Which after a quick search showed that the only things other than myself was a few stray high flying birds like eagles and hawks. I did have to admit, it was rather chilly up here, I could easily see snow here and there around the outside of the cave, though with night falling, i'd probably be in for a miserable night. My stomach rumbled. Right, and no food too. Well besides from the few random snack foods that I had nicked from the caboose anyway. No water though, heaven forbids we bring our own liquids into a mass mode of transport.

Setting my kit down near the left wall of the cave, I opened it up and evaluated my supplies. It was still surprisingly organized after all of the abuse and shaking around it had taken. I still had most of my grey foam, though it was near useless for me without a source of electricity to use a heat gun to mold it into the proper shape I wanted though. However, I still had a pair of spray cans for expanding foam, a spindle of wire, and to my surprise a large sheet of leather with tools meant to cut strips from it.

Setting my work station up, I began to work on a new mask while I still had enough of the lowering sun's light to work by. I chose to remake the mask I hadn't managed to use before it had been shattered. Only this time out of foam with wire and fast drying glue to reinforce its durability. Night had pretty much fallen by the time I had finished painting it, and after it dried. Well, lets say its a good thing Aku the shape shifting master had flaming eyebrows.

Of course, with the nests above me, and this new mask... Lets say that cooked meat and scrambled eggs was a rather bland, but filling dinner and a good test of how much control I had over a mask made without any form of power. Well it was better than the Bowser mask which had been made aboard a moving train at least thanks to no set deadline other than the time of day. The flaming eyebrows also helped with making a campfire for the night, Having found several smaller shrubs located around the outside of the cave nearby. With a campfire for warmth and a full stomach, I settled down for the night on the ground, residing myself to sleep. 

Morning came earlier than I'd have liked. The combination of the morning rays of light, cold air from the camp fire having died in my sleep, and stone floor of a bed having created a rather unpleasant experience of what I imagined a rock would feel like everyday. Only problem was, I wasn't a rock. At least not yet anyway, becoming a stone statue wasn't very high on my list of priorities, and as I stretched and slid last nights project back over my face, I could tell that this morning was going to be rather busy.

The feeling of being submerged under water came with the transformation, i've noted. The cool sensation of a fabric like touch to my entire body as I assumed the shape and powers of Aku the shape shifting master of evil, my height growing until I was well above twice my average height, and that wasn't including the crown like set of horns that grew at a curve from his head which could well add another few feet to his height if they were counted in. Once again I ended up packing up and storing away all my gear except for a spare bag I had grabbed from the train. While I couldn't feel the weight of my supplies while under the influence of the mask, A bag of gold coins, bits mostly, from this dragons previous horde was going to be heavy by itself. But necessary for what I needed to acquire in order to continue to be a significant threat.

The first thing on my agenda was to more art supplies. Having carved the Aku mask using one of my two remaining cans of expanding foam, I would need more of it in case the other items proved unreasonable in this day and era. After all, no one quite knew for sure what technological era ponies had. The show's hospital monitors seemed to run off something, But what the something was, would determine if I could expect to use any of my electrically powered tools in the kit.

I filled a bag with gems and coins and exited the cavern, stretching and breathing in more of the chilly mountain air as I scanned the land below. The closest, but probably worst choice was Ponyville, which I could recognize from the large tree library and iconic town hall that dwelled within its distant confines. Though the next city I could spot, an industrial looking city with a small collection of landmarks that parodied quite a few of my own world's that could be seen just by crossing its bridge into the city proper. Now that looked like the city that'd have what I'd need.

Without further delay, I shape shifted my form into that of a giant raven with a green face and flaming eyebrows and with the bag of money in my new claws, I attempted to glide towards the city. I'll have to admit, Aku certainly made flying look easy in the show. But being a behemoth of a shadow creature imitating one was hard work. By the time I had touched down, my arms and legs were sore from effort. Sure, I was pretty much near the start of the massive bridge, and it had only taken half an hour or so to glide the entire distance.

Now it was the shorter more... challenging... part of the trip here, to blend in, which means Mr. Flaming Eyebrows had to change shape yet again. the results of this being a black furred and maned pony with a green face. Luckily the eyebrows being extinguished in the process and replaced by nearly flat black ones which contrasted well upon my disguise. That and I'd be recognizable if I took the mask off and just wandered into the city, that is if news had already reached here about me, if I was even that important. Huh, never thought of that. Well, I reasoned with myself, I'd certainly stir up more trouble if I just walked in with my other mask on instead.

Yeah, because having pupils made of what looks like blue fire in a endless void is a normal thing to have in a society where even a stampede of bunnies can give a pony a traumatic experience.

Morning Brain, what have you been doing?

You mean besides micro managing the estimates of how many bits your going to need if a cherry costs two of em yet a bushel of what looked like asparagus sold for one? My estimate is that either everything is going to be more realistically priced, or that the Equestrian stock market is going up and down more than the most extreme roller coasters back home. Either that, or this is a world where we have a much more logical market... Hope its that.

I agreed with brain, if only for my own peace of mind. It was pointless to worry about it after all, what with a dragon horde worth of gold in 

I didn't really know what to expect, as I wandered my way towards what I would presume to be the main market. I was met with familiar yet foreign sights of what appeared to be a modern day shopping center in Equestrian naming themes. Some stores like, 'Hooves R Us.' were marginally clever, but some of them were cringe worthy, like 'Mares secrets', which was the pony version of Victoria's Secrets. Unsurprisingly there wasn't a male in sight in that particular store, nor was I going to visit it if I could help it.

Half an hour later and directions from some of the more casual walkers in the busy city streets and I was on my way to the nearest fabric store for several of the things I needed. Entering the large crafting store labeled simply as 'Herd's Fabrics'. What was pleasantly surprising about this store however, was their massive amount of fabrics, both normal, mundane, and more than a few almost enchanted looking fabrics that seemed to shimmer or move their patterns by themselves when I wasn't looking directly at it. For the next few hours I was scanning through truck loads worth of fabric designs after having grabbed a nearby shopping cart and filled a good portion of it with the equestrian equivalent of expanding foam, which apparently meant purchasing one of the patented 'expanding foam generators' which required a valuable gem to run it for differing periods of time, but with the dragon hoard up the mountain, that shouldn't be a problem.

It was a rather interesting alternate of electricity, really. Gem powered engines? I mean, talk about magical. It would certainly explain the lack of electricity throughout the towns and villages of equestria on the show if they had to use gems in order to power everything, though I was far from done here. I made a note to save a few hundred bits in case the power generator I wanted was a bit more expensive than I thought it would be after comparing the shops prices to my worlds own prices. However, as I was checking out fabrics down a particularly lengthy row of fascinating multicolored shimmering fabrics, I had the misfortune of hearing a rather familiar eloquent feminine drawl, "Oh no-no-no, this wouldn't do at all..."

That couldn't possibly be, I mean, why would she be here of all times? But sure enough, as I scanned between the rows of fabrics, there she was. The ever neon white and dark purple color scheme and element of generosity, Rarity.