The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope

by Wings of Black Glass

Let the Past Burn

Several days later, My conversation with Sable still weighed heavily on my mind. Try as I might, I could find no answers in my library. Even with time to look in more detail the answers I needed simply couldn’t be found in the texts of the wise. It would seem that the idea that a pony would have no special talent at all had simply not occurred to anypony.

My only clue with what I had learned is that only Equines can get cutie-marks. Other species can not, and this was something I already knew. Could he have been something else? I shook the thought out of my head, I must have been grasping at straws to even consider it. Sable was obviously only a Unicorn, with no unique heritage to speak of. Someone knocked on my door, and I looked up to see a Unicorn entering the room.

“Hello, Starlight Glimmer.”

“Twilight, what’s all this about?” Glimmer waved a hoof at the stacks of books around me. “I haven’t seen you this obsessed in a while.”

“I’m glad you’re here.” I set down my most recent tome and turned towards my friend. “I screwed up. So I was doing research, hoping somepony else had ever run into my problem before.” Glimmer tipped her head to the side.

“Oh? Having any luck?”

“No, unfortunately, I think it might be a unique event.”

“I’ve seen you handle unique before. It can’t be that bad.”

“It’s not that, there’s nothing actually at stake in the broader sense.” Only the destiny of a single pony, I didn’t say it out loud.

“In that case, do you need any help?” I considered Glimmer’s offer, she was an expert of cutie-mark magic after all.

“You might have the expertise I need… but I have to ask you to wait on that assistance for now.” It was hard to say if she looked disappointed. “At least until I ask him if he wants your help.”

“And who might ‘him’ be?” Starlight Glimmer smiled playfully, perhaps more like cat spotting an unsuspecting mouse. “Somepony special?”

“No, no, nothing like that.” I shook my head, not even toying with the thought. “It's just, the last time I brought somepony into this without asking it just ended up making everything so much worse. I’m not making that mistake again.” I looked back at my books and sighed. “I’m forced to admit now that there is nothing in any of these books which can help me now.” Glimmer stepped past me to examine the stack of tomes.

“These are all about Cutie-marks. What could you possibly need these for?” I opened my mouth to speak, but remembered how Sable looked when we discovered his blank flank and shut it.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not my secret to share.”

“Wait a minute.” Something inside Glimmer clicked, clearly. “This must have to do with that Sable Stardust character.”

“How did you know already? Did Pinkie Pie tell you?”

“Well no. I heard something about him from Applejack, but she was just as silent about it as you. I’m going to guess he’s got a problem with his mark?” She waved to the books. I nodded but didn’t say exactly what that problem was. “In that case, if magic can’t help you should go get those little girls from town. What did they call their little group, the Cutie Mark Crusaders? Wasn’t it?”

“Of course! Why didn’t I think about it! That's perfect!” I gave Glimmer a quick hug and bolted for the door, hopeful for the first time that day.

“Happy to help!” Called out Glimmer from behind me, sounding still mildly confused. The Crusaders might indeed be perfect for this, they specialized in helping those without marks figure themselves out. If anyponies could help Sable, it was them. I called out to Spike as I galloped, shouting I would be in town for a while. I swung the door open, leaving at a dead run, and slid to a halt a few inches from a startled purple Unicorn just outside.

“Hello, Twilight.” Sable deadpanned, despite nearly being bowled over. Although he did back away, outside arm’s reach.

“Sable! Sorry about that. What are you doing here?” I hoped I sounded merely curious and took a look at him. He seemed tired, but significantly calmer than before. He had his black glass wings again, folded against his ragged coat.

“What’s going on?” Spike emerged from the castle, apparently not having heard what I said earlier. Sable glanced down at the dragon, nodded briefly, and returned his attention to me.

“I came to thank you for giving me some space the last few days.” I bowed my own head for once, a little embarrassed that I had done that not because I was giving him space, but rather because I had been spending all my time reading. “Sometimes it takes me a while to put my mask back on after… well after it’s been torn off.”

“Mask? What mask?” Asked Spike. Sable did not look down at the dragon, he was holding himself very still, as if concentrating, and I thought I saw his horn glow for an instant.

“Twilight Sparkle understands.” It was his only answer for Spike. I nodded, silently promising him I would not reveal his secrets to anypony else without his permission.

“Actually it’s a good thing you are here. I think I have some friends who might be able to help.” Sable raised an eyebrow but did not speak. “Starlight Glimmer is an expert on cutie-mark magic, you should consider talking to her. She’s even here right now.”

“I plan on it.” What was that in his voice, confidence? No, it was more like determination.

“And there’s some other Ponies who might be able to help too. Applejack and Rarity’s sisters have a group called…”

“Yes, I am aware of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” He interrupted me. “I have previously considered the possibility they might be able to help with my… condition and decided against it.” That was disappointing.

“You mean, about your… uh…” Spike pointed at Sable’s side but fell silent when Sable glared at him.

“I don’t think they have the experience required to handle my particular problem, not yet anyway. And… I’ve told you already, words and encouragement are not enough on their own.”

“Oh…” I let my gaze fall down, disheartened that he wasn’t willing to give them a try.

“Besides. I am not ready just yet to…” He traced circles on the ground, looking for the right words. “Introduce myself in my entirety to others. Let us call it that.”

“That’s alright. We can take on at your own pace.” I briefly considered what to say next when Spike blinked and shielded his eyes, looking far off.

“What’s that?” Spike pointed off to the distance, drawing our attention. “Is that smoke?” Sure enough, a dark cloud was rising into the air, from somewhere far away. Sable shaded his eyes with a wing as he looked that way, before facing me, his face suddenly a mask of concern.

“My home is that way.” Together we darted into the air, gaining height to see where the smoke was coming from. It did appear to be coming from Sable’s hovel.

“We should hurry!” We would have to leave Spike behind, but he’d be fine.

“Go!” Sable waved me on. “You’re faster than me, I’ll catch up! Go!” I didn’t hesitate, flying away with all the speed I could muster. I didn’t look back as Ponyville passes below me in a blur. At the very least I thought I could save his home.

It was, in fact, Sable’s home at the source of the smoke. Flames danced up the willow out front, and the house itself was emitting great bouts of black smoke. I was not the first pony to arrive, several other ponies, all Pegasi, had reached the disaster first, I saw them dipping buckets into the pond and pouring the water onto the roof or throwing it into the tree. I looked around quickly where I hovered, there didn’t seem to be any more significant threat to the town, just Sable’s hovel on fire.

At least I knew there wasn’t anypony inside, Sable lived alone. Given time more Pegasi would arrive, as well as any nearby Unicorns or earth ponies who wanted to help, things here would be well under control shortly. That said, I realized it would take too long to put out the fire inside using just buckets, and my heart dropped when I realized this meant Sable would lose everything he had left of his family. Determined to resolve this quickly I looked about for a solution. Then I remembered one of Sable’s plan to repair his home’s foundation, and flew around the smoke cloud to where I could see the pond.

“Everypony get back!” The others looked to me, and seeing who it was, follow my orders. I wrapped a magic field around the water in the pond, lifting much of it at once, several small fish dropped out of my bubble and back into what was left of the pond below. I hauled the globe of water over the house and tree. “Is everyone out of the way?” I looked at the Pegasi in the area, everyone seemed pretty calm and well out of the way, my plan obvious to all of them. “OK, here goes! Watch out for steam!” I dropped the pond right over the fire. The house and the tree vanished under the torrent, the mailbox was knocked over by the onrush of water. Clouds of steam billowed up for several moments, obscuring my view.

The steam clouds dispersed, and I looked around to make sure all the Pegasi in the area were still alright. Everypony was far enough back to be safe, and I let out a relieved breath. With the emergency resolved I then took a look at the house.

From up here, it looked like there wasn’t much left, the poor house had been gutted by the flames and almost flattened by my water drop. The willow didn’t fare much better, between the fire and my flood it was reduced to little more than a matchstick. I landed beside where the garden had been to inspect the damage up close. The building took the blow pretty hard, the lean was much more pronounced than it had been, and the roof had imploded. Of the garden, I was sure nothing survived. I doubted it would be safe for anypony to go in without reinforcing the structure. Several Pegasi landed nearby as I circled towards the front door. I asked them all to stay outside, repeating to them my observations about the stability of the home.

Having said that, I established a shield over myself and stepped inside to check on Sable’s valued objects, I could quickly teleport out if the roof gave in. The inside was worse than I would have thought. There was substantial fire damage, the bedding and rug were ash, the quilt on the wall burned away nearly wholly, the mannequin little more than a wire skeleton. The books were still smoking slightly, charred beyond use. The soldier battalion had been devastated, nearly entirely wiped out by the flames. Most of Sable’s curiosities were naught but charred lumps. My heart dropped, Sable lost everything again. I turned away but spotted something glint from the corner of my eye.

Underneath where one of the shelves fell over and covered in a pile of ash I found the strange silver mask I saw before. Miraculously it seemed to have fallen from its perch and been protected by the shelf that collapsed on top of it. It was remarkably undamaged further. I had no idea what it meant to Sable, but at least he got to keep it. Small comfort, I supposed. I retreated from the wreck of his hovel with the silver mask floating alongside, the other ponies outside all apparently waiting for me to return with bated breath.

“Well, there is no more danger here. Everpony can go home, I’ll deal with this now.” One by one the Pegasi broke off, heading away now that the emergency was over. I sighed and looked back at Sable’s former home. If he hadn’t been planning on rebuilding before, he would be now. I knew I could get Applejack and the others to help with this, at the very least. Then I frowned, realizing Sable was not among the ponies who had arrived to help. Where was he? He had been right behind me. “Sable? Where are you?” I called out for him, but no one responded. He wasn’t there.

My ruminations were disturbed when my cutie-mark started to pulse and glow, I recognized the map was calling to me. For the first time, and hopefully the only time, I wished that the table was not summoning me. Right now I thought this was more important. Then the call became more urgent, my cutie-mark glowed an ominous red with each pulse. A terrible fear rose from within, the map was in danger!

---

“Wait a minute, that just happened!”

“You’re right, I was about to check out what was making the smoke when the map called me.”

“So his home is gone? Oh no…”

“As bad as that was… is. What came next is more important.”

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[undeadninjas]

I want to speculate, but... must keep reading!