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Chapter 11,778 words
Chapter 21,615 words
Chapter 31,223 words
Chapter 41,298 words
Chapter 51,738 words
Chapter 61,547 words
Chapter 71,126 words
Chapter 81,392 words
Chapter 91,589 words
Chapter 101,416 words
Chapter 111,352 words
Chapter 121,598 words
Chapter 131,244 words
Chapter 142,875 words
Epilogue1,060 words

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

That was too weird.

He didn’t even take the money? What’s the big idea? Oh well, you don’t have time to dwell on this; time to find that farm those two ponies were talking about. “Alright… now where’d they go…”

You continue eyeing the different buildings and signs, trying to make sense of the ponies’ awkward handwriting on some of them.

…Or is it “hoof-writing”?

“Damn, I can’t understand a thing these things say…” you mutter, peering at one of them closely. It looks like some kind of butchered English-Russian combination of letters and symbols. “Gah… guess I have to learn it the old-fashioned way…”

Context clues.

…Fuck that.

Alright, time to find a pony and ask for directions. You spot a gray-colored pegasus with a blonde mane floating around in the air, seemingly aimlessly. You still find it hard to believe that they actually exist, but there’s one right in front of you. “Excuse me… could you give me directions to the farmlands? I seem to have gotten lost…”

“Oh, that’s okay mister, it happens to me all the time!” she exclaims, turning around to face you.

…Great. Her eyes are derped; no wonder she gets lost so easily.

“Um… so you know the way?”

“Of course! C’mon, I’ll show ya!” she exclaims, floating around in a circle around you, before heading off down the road the opposite way of which you came.

…Did you take a wrong turn?

Or does she not know her way?

“Is this… the right way?”

“Mhm! If you’re going to Sweet Apple Acres, why would you be traveling down this road?” she asks, turning to look at you with one eye, the other eye keeping its watch on the road in front of her. “Everyone knows it’s this way, after all!”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it…”

Two hours of aimless wandering later…

…

You took her word for it.

You idiot, you shouldn’t have done that. Now you’re lost, with a derp-eyed pony, in the middle of Ponyville with no idea where you’re going.

And the sun is going down.

“Uh oh… looks like we’re lost…” she says, her head drooping a bit.

“You think?”

“Hm… oh! I know! You need to go see Twilight Sparkle! She knows where everything in all of Equestria can be!” she exclaims, smiling up at you and landing on her hooves.

“…Why would I need to do that?”

“You said you were lost, right? Well, I’m sure Twilight has some sort of map or compass or something for you to use so you don’t get lost again!” she practically beams up at you.

“Alright… where can I find her?”

“Oh! I know this one for sure!” she grins, turning around and walking, listing a bit lazily to the left as she walks. “She lives in a giant tree-library thing; you can’t miss it, even if you do get lost!”

You’re a bit reluctant to believe her a second time…

But if she’s right, this could be your chance to not only learn where everything is, but give you a chance to learn some of the writing of the ponies themselves.

She did say that it was a library, after all. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Yay!” she jumps into the air, and flaps her wings a few times to float along the ground. “I’ll show ya where to go!”

Another three hours later…

God.

Fucking.

Damn it.

This is the last time you trust this pegasus with directions.

“We’ve been wandering for hours. I’m going on my own this time.”

“I’m sorry… it’s just it’s so dark out now, I can’t really see much of where anything is,” she says, landing and turning to look at you with a sad look on her face.

You sigh, leaning down to pat her head. “Don’t worry about it. At least you gave it your best shot. But I need to find a place to stay, and quickly; the night air is getting a bit chilly…”

The pegasus tilted her head with a puzzled look, then looked at her wings, flapping them a bit. “Doesn’t seem that cold out for me.”

“Well, that’s probably because you have fur covering you. We humans, on the other hand…” you lean down and show her your bare arm, “We don’t have much fur to keep us warm.”

“Ohhh… so is that why you wear clothes all the time?”

You nod.

She giggles a bit. “So a human… never heard of you guys before. What’s it like?”

You smile as the two of you continue walking. If she’s not guiding you anywhere, at least she’s making for some interesting conversation. “Well, I was a pretty normal guy before coming here. Then all of a sudden I woke up one day and I was in a forest. Don’t remember much else other than that.”

“A forest? You mean, the ‘Everfree Forest’?!” she exclaims, her eyes widening and looking up at you.

My god, is this the first time her eyes have been straight? You nod slowly, as both of you continue walking.

“Whoa… for how long?”

“Three days.”

“Three days? In the Everfree Forest?!” she gasps, “How’d you pull that off?”

“Survival tactics I learned in scouts when I was… I think I was five or six years old when I started…”

Never thought that stuff would ever come in handy. Boy, were you ever proved fucking wrong.

“Well, that’s really interesting, Mr… um… what was your name? Heehee, I kinda forgot.”

“Anonymous; and I don’t think I ever got your name, did I?”

She grins up at you. “I dunno, either; my name’s Ditzy Doo, but some ponies just call me ‘Derpy’ for short, because of my eyes,” she says, pointing at her face as her eyes spin around in various directions.

You chuckle a bit, before looking up at the path you’re following.

A large tree with a door on it slowly comes into view.

“There it is!” she exclaims, pointing and flying ahead. “That’s Twilight Sparkle’s library!”

You follow on foot, quickening your pace a bit as she flies towards the door. She slows down and lands, before knocking on the door with her hoof, you standing behind her. You hear lazy shuffling around, followed by the taps of feet on the other side as someone comes to the door.

The door opens, and a small, reptilian creature stares up at you with lazy eyes for a few seconds, before widening and stepping back a few steps. “What… who are you?” he asks, his voice trembling a bit in intimidation.

“Spike? What’s the mat-“ you hear a familiar female’s voice cut off as her eyes set on your taller figure slowly easing your way into the library, taking care not to hit your head on the top of the doorway.

Oh, it’s the purple pony from earlier; that explains it.

“What? What’re you doing here?” she asks, looking up at you. “I thought you were leaving town?”

“Yeah, well… funny story about that…”

“He got lost, so I brought him here for a map, or compass, or something, to help him get around!” Derpy exclaims, smiling at the unicorn.

”I see… well, I guess we can’t just throw you out, now can we?” she sighs. “Come on in, you need a place to stay for the night?”

You smile, obliging and walking in. Derpy nods at you, before flying off into the night sky.

There are books lining every single wall of this place. Impressive.

“Mr. Anonymous?”

“Oh, um… yeah…”

The purple pony sighs and turns to look at the reptile. “Can you fix up the spare bed for him tonight, Spike?”

He nods at her, eyeing you closely as he walks up the stairs, to what you believe is the bedroom.

“So you need a map, then?” she asks, and your attention focuses back to her.

“If it’s not too much trouble; I tried going to the farmlands earlier today, but I had no idea where I was going.”

“Oh? Which way did you go?”

“East.”

”Ohhhhhh…” she chuckles a bit. “You went the wrong way.”

“I noticed.”

“Sweet Apple Acres, if you are going from the center of town, is to the south-west. I’m surprised you didn’t see it sooner; it stands on a rather large hill,” she says, looking around her bookshelves for a decent map of the town.

“Well, from what I can gather, the forest I came from was on the north-western side, because I do remember seeing the top roof of what I think was a barn in the southern distance when I first entered the town.”

“Oh? Did you happen to see a small cottage on the edge of the forest? That belongs to Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus from earlier today,” she says, finally finding a folded paper and levitating it over to you. “There you go, that should cover most of everything you’ll need,” she smiles. “Now then, I’m not sure about you, but I’m going to go ahead and get some rest. Feel free to look around the library if you like.”

You smile and nod, placing the map in your pocket. “Thank you for this, really.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all; it’s always good to help out someone in need.” She begins walking up the stairs, then turns to look at you. “When you’re ready, your bed is up here, across from mine and Spike’s. Good night, Mr. Anonymous.”

“Good night, Miss Twilight Sparkle. Thank you again for everything.” You smile and wave as she walks up the stairs. You walk over to one of the bookshelves, picking out a book.

“Time to learn the writing of these ponies…”

The mask…

THE MASK…!

You’re falling.

Falling into a dark hole.

Two large, orange eyes open in the air above you, and a sick, maniacal laughter rings through your head.

”I shall… consume… consume everything…” a deeper, monstrous voice rumbles throughout the abyss.

A large mouth opens up, and you’re sucked into it.

You wake up with a scream.

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Wuten

Wuten #1 · Sep 1st, 2012 · · ·

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He was never given a real name, not in the games, nor in this story. He is simply known as "The Salesman" or "The Happy Mask Salesman".

1198682

Prepare yourself, then; I'm not done with this thing yet...

Wuten

Wuten #2 · Sep 1st, 2012 · · ·

Also, I've increased the available viewing chapters from just chapter 1, to chapter 5. This should give my readers a better feel for the story, and provide a bit more development on Anon's part, as well as the other ponies.

The story is finished, I will say this. Now is the time for clever distribution of chapter releases...