Time and Masks

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

A Night to Hunt

This is a bad idea, Dinky thought as she walked out of the castle to the garden. The lavender filly's gold colored eyes looked around, making sure that she was alone. Seeing no other ponies, she moved close to the fence and behind some bushes. There she took off her saddlebag, opened it, and pulled out the Mare-Do-Well outfit.

Every night for nearly a week, there had been attacks. Numerous ponies had been struck by lightning, as had several buildings as well. Damage ranged from minor destruction of property to ponies being killed, although most were simply hospitalized. Most of the injured were guard members, making a bit of irony in that by searching for the attacker made them a more likely target.

Finally Dinky could take it no longer. Ponies were being hurt and she had to do something about it. Unfortunately she did not really know what she was going to do. Putting on the costume and going out on night patrol was about as far as she had gotten.

Crouching low, the costumed filly scurried through the bushes, heading toward the gates. Two guards stood on the outside at full attention. Pressing herself down against the ground she crawled forward. Holding her breath, she moved forward and around one, slipping under his nose low enough to the ground that her shoulders were beneath the guard's elbow. Past them, she started to speed up, worrying less and less about keeping quiet as she got further away.

At the corner and out of sight, Dinky stopped and looked around. It began to sink in how badly thought out her plan was (Not even a plan. A plan means you have at least some idea on what you're doing). Now she was out in Canterlot looking for a criminal and had no idea where to even begin looking.

After thinking a moment, she decided to head toward the overhanging part of town. Looking around, the filly tried to figure out where she was and which direction that would be. Making her best guess, she turned and started running again.

The filly slowed down as she continued on, keeping her eye out for any of the guards. As she went, she noticed that the streets seemed to be unusually empty. It did make sense. Most were probably scared that if they were outside, they would be the next victim. Ponies that were more interested in committing crime would also be inside, seeing as the guards were out in greater numbers than usual.

After a while, guards were what she saw. The sight made her stop and move off to the side, hiding in the shadows and watching. They were a group of four, close enough to see and watch each other, but far enough that one getting struck would not harm the others. Dinky began to follow the group down the street, staying close to the walls and hiding whenever she could.

The filly followed the guards without incident for maybe four blocks. At that point, the group turned left and continued on. Dinky decided to turn right, continuing toward the edge of town. She stopped as she reached her destination, moving to stand next to the fountain in the hope that the water would draw any attack on her.

There was nothing. The entire area was clear. No signs of clouds or of strange ponies. There was nothing else around.

"You!" A voice called out, getting Dinky's attention. Turning to look at the source, there was a guard approaching from one of the other streets.

Dinky ran. She knew it would look bad, but a sense of fear and embarrassment made her feel the urge to escape more than anything else at the moment.

"Stop!" the guard shouted. His wings flared open wide before giving a single flap to lift him off the ground. Quickly the pegasus took flight, chasing after the costumed pony.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Dinky thought as she ran as fast as she could. First she had no plan, then she foolishly stood out in the open to look around, now she was running from the guards. This was not how things were supposed to go at all. Although admittedly she had no idea how it was supposed to go.

Turning, she ran into an alley thinking she could hide behind some buildings and possible be out of sight long enough to throw the guard off her trail. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a dead end.

Dinky dove behind some trashcans and closed her eyes. Trying to keep calm, she turned her attention inward to draw on her magic. Feeling her power, she began to channel it, letting it flow out through her horn before wrapping back around her body.

There was a metallic bang as something hit the trashcans, and then... silence.

Dinky opened her eyes and turned around to look. The cans were spread apart, stuck in mid-air with the pegasus between them. He was flying right at her, or would be if she had not sped up enough that time seemed frozen.

It was actually a bit of surprise to Dinky how easily it seemed to work. She had not accelerated herself since Poison Joke Prankster attacked her school, but felt like it was easier to cast and using less energy to maintain.

The costumed filly moved to step around the frozen scene and ran for the mouth of the alley. Since the guards were supposed to be in groups, the other guards were probably close to where the one had found her. That was reason enough to turn and run further away from there.

Block after block passed. Dinky had no idea how many, just running quickly to get as much distance as possible. As she stopped to catch her breath, she looked around. Feeling she was in another part of Canterlot and far enough away, she let her magic drain, returning to normal time. She leaned against the wall and walked slowly, trying to catch her breath.

This whole thing is a bad idea. Things are not going well for me at all and I'm not really doing anything to help. This is stupid of me. Maybe I should just give up. I should just go home and go to bed.

A boom of thunder echoed through the streets, making the filly jump in surprise. Before she even realized what she was doing, she was running toward it, no longer feeling tired. It never even crossed Dinky's mind that she was running toward danger.

Dinky stopped running when she saw something move past her overhead. It looked like a cloud with something on it. It was a pretty easy guess as to what that something was. The filly had seen pegasi moving clouds above the sky in Ponyville enough to know what it looked like from below.

Before she was even able to finish turning around back around, the pegasus-driven cloud was far away. Despite seeming pointless, Dinky started to chase after it. The filly did her best to chase after the cloud from the the ground, following the streets and turning when and where she could to try and keep close.

She managed to keep it in sight of it for five minutes before she lost track of it. Worse, she now had no idea where she was. The filly looked around at the unfamiliar city, and the even more unfamiliar part of it she was currently in. Made her feel she had to get out more.

"Who the buck are you supposed to be?" a voice asked from behind. It was deep and scratchy but something slightly feminine to it. The sound of a pony talking caused Dinky to jump slightly and turn around, mentally kicking herself for letting whoever get the drop on her.

Two inches from the ground floated a black cloud with a pegasus laying on it. The mare had a pale blue fur that could be seen on her wings, mouth and ears. The rest of the coat covered by a costume. The main body of it was a dark purple with the mask and boots black. There was yellow piping that looked like lightning lining separating the purple from the black. The mare's eyes were hidden by smoky yellow goggle lenses in purple frames.

"I," Dinky responded, "Am Mare-Do-Well. And you," she pointed a hoof at the pegasus, "are the one who has been hitting others with lightning." This caused the pegasus to start chuckling.

"Yeah," the mare sighed out with a grin. She rubbed at her chest that was swelled up, looking like she was being praised. "You can call me Shadowbolt."

"Well you need to stop," Dinky said, surprised by how much authority she was putting into her own voice.

"Or what?" Shadowbolt asked, her grin turning into a scowl. "What are you going to do about, runt?" She poked the filly with one of her hooves. "Dinky little filly like you? Probably can't even spell 'Mare-Do-Well.'"

Dinky let out a snort and glared at the pegasus, who glared right. The filly then closed her eyes and started to concentrate. Focusing her mind, she began to draw on her magic, preparing to freeze the pegasus in temporal stasis.

There was a crackle of electricity. Every part of Dinky's body suddenly tingled as a shock ran through her. The feeling caused her to lose concentration, the magic she had been gathering dispersing harmlessly.

"Two things," Shadowbolt said. "First, do not," she poked the filly in the chest with a hoof, "your eyes off your opponent. The moment you do, you give them an opening. Second, I have been in Canterlot long enough to know when a unicorn is trying to use magic." Standing up, she leaned forward, pressing face to face. "That was just a warning. Try it again and you'll get a lot more of a shock."

A new feeling of anger burned in Dinky's chest. She stared back at the pegasus before letting out a snort. The filly raised one hoof up as quickly as she could, aiming it for the mare's jaw.

The punch missed as Shadowbolt pulled her head back. The criminal grinned again, letting out a chuckle. The sound now grated on the filly's nerves. Without thinking about, she took a step back and lunged at the criminal. Instead of hitting Shadowbolt, Dinky found herself in the cloud the pegasus had been using instead.

"Eh, you can keep it," Shadowbolt called from above. "I was done with it tonight anyways. Besides, I can always get another one. Better luck next time, runt." With that she turned and flew off, moving so fast she was out of sight almost in an instant.

With a cry of frustration, Dinky started to try and destroy the cloud. It was not as easy a task as it would be for a pegasus, but she eventually moved it enough that the evening air caused it to dissipate. Panting, she stood there, glaring at the sky where she had last seen Shadowbolt.

Comments

[Luckyfanisaac]

Before she was even able to finish turning around back around,

"Two things," Shadowbolt said. "First, do not," she poked the filly in the chest with a hoof, "take your eyes off your opponent.