Lady of the Masque

It was an hour, maybe two, until I woke up again. Woke up to ichor, blood and pus sticking to me and the smell stinging my nose. And one eye was drowning in bright yellow.

"Uhhh, what is this?"

I picked the little scrap of paper off my face and looked at it. Three inches square and a little bit of tape hanging off one end, clear evidence that this body and whom ever owned it before me had a bad habit of sticking notes to her bathroom door. Flipping it over, I murmured,

"Wonder what this is bout..."

The message itself was written in sparkly purple pen and, oh, she added extra loops to her letters like me. Its reminder was quite simple - Nik is coming for breakfast - and quite soon, if the clock was anything to go buy.

"Motherbucker!"

Thank Cel- no I can't say her name anymore. I don't deserve it. Either way, thank the gods for muscle memory or I never would have gotten in the shower much less turned it on and held still as the stream turned from ice cold to scalding hot. With shaking hands and a trembling touch, I inspected every inch of my new body.

"Let’s see, no real muzzle. Two eyes. Two nose holes. Are these ears? They're so small. Mouth with teeth... weird teeth... neck. Chest. Teats on chest. Oooh~ These are so big and bouncy! Boingy!"

I swear it was only the shock preventing me from having a total meltdown at the situation. That and while this body was quite different from a pony it shared many characteristics of my old form: long lean legs; toned Muscle that added supple, subtle curves to every inch; long dark hair that seemed almost purple in the right light; a lovely and balanced hourglass figure. This body was absolutely perfect. The burns were also fading away, turning to either soft pink skin or bright silver scar tissue. Again, probably either the hot water or the shock keeping me from having a screaming meltdown.

"Where the buck is my cutie mark?!?" I screamed, the glass door of my shower shivering and shaking. My fingers clawed at my thigh. "Oh, Faust above, please let my mark be there. I need it to be there. I lost too much for it to just up and disappear. Please come back. Please come back....I don't...I can’t....never again..."

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"Blank Flank!" went the chant, "Blank Flank. Never gunna be anything!"

From the day I started school at North Canterlot High to the very hour I graduated, that chant followed me around.
"Blank Flank! Blank Flank! Never gunna be anything!"

I wasn't lazy or anything: perfect grades in every class; a star in Fencing; a lead in almost every musical at our high school; committee chair on every single club I joined. I gave more than even the most popular cheerleader and still that chant haunted me day and night. Still I ate alone every lunch and never ever, ever got asked to a single dance.

"Blank Flank! Blank Flank! Never gunna be anything!"

At home, it really wasn't much different, except my parents gave up on me before I even started high school, on my birthday no less. All because my little baby sister got her cutie mark for throwing balls at the ripe old age of six. I turned twelve that year, and she got more presents than I did.

"Blank Flank! Blank Flank! Never gunna be anything!"

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Last time I heard that, well, it was just as I was about to get my diploma. After that I just disappeared on the face of Equestria as far as the rest of my class was concerned. In reality my parents sent me to the shipyard they owned and told me to learn to do something useful and never come back again. Three weeks later, I earned my cutie mark and two days after that-
My eyes snapped right open. Huh, apparently I had stumbled downstairs and found my way to the kitchen. Nice place by the way, fairly large and separated from the rest of the downstairs by a bar. And the rest? It was open and filled with... mannequins?

Not that any of that mattered. No what mattered was the short knife in my hand and the way it slid into the flesh on my leg. The liquid smoothness of the blood as it stained my soft white hands pink and dripped onto the floor. The sharp electric pain and surreal pleasure as thin, triangle-shaped strips of flesh fell away and landed. They really made nice dams for the brooks pouring, branching, decorating my legs.

"Almost... done..."

I panted through the pain, adding one last line to the dagger; one short dagger that went from the base of my leg to three-quarters to my knee. In front of the dagger was a simple masquerade mask with a long curving point on the right side. It dropped down and to the side, the lower tip just barely touching the tip of the dagger.

"Bea...u...ti...ful."

A smile crossed my lips as I admired my handiwork, having apparently done the other side already. It was deep. It was lovely. It was complete. It was- a knock at the door?

My eyes, my head snapped upward to look at the door, just as it creaked open. Then came a voice so deep and thick it more resembled a happy growl than anything else.

"Hello, Rosemary. I hope I'm not too early for break-"

He, for he was most definitely male, couldn't have been even an inch taller than me. He was built more broad and strong with a comfortable slouch to his shoulders. His short black hair and wildish black beard gave him a distinctive... wolfish appearance. Eeyup, he was hot. I quickly brushed my hair away from my eye and tried to stand up.

"Rosemary! Why are you covered in blood?!" He shouted, his face quickly losing all of his. He dropped his backpack and rushed over to me.

"Blood? What blood?" I said feeling a blush somehow cross my cheeks. Then I glance down and wobble. The entire floor around me was a shallow pool of bright red blood fed constantly by two fountains on my legs. "Oh right, that blood."

My entire world went sort of diagonally and fuzzy and then, for the third time since waking up at midnight, I blacked out. Thankfully a set of strong, warm arms caught me before I cracked my head on the floor.

Lu- who knows how long it was before I woke up again, but when I did it was in bed and all warm and clean. And with my head in this guy's lap as he brushed my hair...

"Uhhhh…" Well that was eloquent of me. Let's try that again, "He- hello?"

"Hello, sleeping beauty. Want to tell me what happened while I was out in Germany? I know you missed me but I was only gone for three weeks."

I stare up into his lovely gold eyes and flap my mouth. Eeyup. Open and closed. Open and closed. If only he had asked for an impression of a fish.

"Uhhhh... who are you? And who is Rosemary?"