Author's Note
Ice Fire presents...
MASKED
Help from guitarguyjoe
Cover art by the ever-so-amazing Lusewing!
Please enjoy!
Also, check out Spike & Fluttershy, Ice's other story, if you have the time. Don't worry, the entire story's seven chapters and they each only have five hundred words in them...
Focus, Starsky.
Sorry, Ice.
The Letter
Dearest Starsky...
Please heed my call. The land needs you once again.
Wyvern has been weakened over the eons, and must now pass his legacy down to a worthy pony. That pony shall lock the demons of chaos down to Tartarus once again, or else the land will suffer. They will become the new guardian of Equestria, until they pass away and another worthy pony is chosen.
When he passes, his spirit shall be concealed in the golden Mask of Peace, adding to the legendary power of the Sacred Warriors. With the power of the mask, those who wear it will be blessed with unimaginable power, that not even Starswirl the Bearded could control.
However, with so much power, it could corrupt you with madness. This is what caused the second Warrior, Dragoon, to turn against Equestria and become ruler of the chaos demons.
Speaking of the chaos demons...
They have grown stronger, as Dragoon has now found a way to drain the life of Equestria and convert it to dark energy. The chaos demons can use this power and break out of Tartarus to claim the land once more.
We cannot let this happen.
That is why you must rise to the challenge and become the new Sacred Warrior.
I leave you the Mask of Peace, young Starsky. Please use its power wisely.
Before you put on the mask, however, I advise that you meet me at the entrance of Canterlot Castle. We shall speak there.
Until then, do not put on the mask. I trust you.
I believe in you, Starsky.
Love,
Luna
The sun was already setting as I trotted along the dirt trail said to lead to Ponyville. The sky was colored with streaks of blue, purple, orange, and pink. It surely was a beautiful sight that left my legs all tingly and stuff.
The light breeze blew through my tan coat and brown mane, sending a chill up my spine. It was cold outside, but not cold enough to keep me from traveling.
I came across a stone tunnel, with a huge puddle of mucky water sitting at the entrance. To keep myself entertained, I screamed, "ECHO!" and sure enough, it echoed.
I chuckled and hopped over the puddle. Wouldn't want my fur to be wet when I arrive in Ponyville.
Wait a second- you don't know why I was traveling? Well, if it wasn't already painfully obvious, Princess Luna wants me to meet her in Canterlot. However, I can't just rent a house in Canterlot- those houses are all fancy-schmancy and thay cost a hundred bits. Ponyville isn't that far from Canterlot, and it's pretty cool there. That's why.
I originally lived in another land not far from the borders of Equestria. Its name is classified- that's another story. Anyways, I lived as a regular unsocial pegasus. I stayed that way until I met Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow's a kind pegasus with a need for speed. She has a hobby of challenging me in flight races. She would always win, obviously.
So, I kept practicing my flight skills and eventually became as good as her.
But, there was one point where I couldn't fly at all.
I had broken both my wings after a... really bad crash landing. I wouldn't want to explain it. Maybe later on in the story. Anyways, I had to wear wing casts for two and a half months (yeah, they were broken THAT badly) and some mean ponies even tried to pick on me. Rainbow Dash wouldn't let this happen, though. She would stick by my side and help stand up for me whenever I needed.
Then she moved to Cloudsdale.
I never heard from her again. I would try and send postcards, but I would just end up getting awkward replies from the wrong address.
I heard she made a new best friend, and even earned her cutie mark over there. I guessed that I was just slowing her down.
Hmm...
Speaking of cutie mark...
I had gotten mine right after some sort of circular-rainbow-explosion passed by me. I couldn't control myself after I saw that... thing. My wing casts suddenly shattered off and my wings flapped hard, with no pain at all. I began to take off above the ground. I blasted through the clouds and quickly met the image of outer space.
The stars were still very far away, but it still was a once-in-a-lifetime sight.This made me do a double take, but I began to suffocate before I got the chance to freak out. Luckily, my wings went crazy again and flapped, leading me back to Equestria. I felt like some sort of overpowered awesome dude after that, and fainted.
After my episode, I felt something wierd on my flank. I decided to check it, and found the image of a golden star.
My cutie mark.
I nearly fainted again at that point, but I didn't. I was even rather confused- what did the star mean? What did that FLIGHT OUTBURST mean? What did that CIRCULAR RAINBOW EXLOSION OF EPIC PROPORTIONS MEAN?
Well, It's a long story. I'll fast foward the story to the point where I reach Ponyville.
Scratch that- I've reached 1000 words! I can finally publish this on FimFiction! I'll just continue this next chapter! Later, Ice!
What? Wait, Starsky! Come back! Bronies want to hear about your adventure!
Hm-hm-hmmmm...
Wha? This is on? Oh! Okay. So, Starsky's in the bathroom. He ate one too many tacos last night. You, uh, probrably didn't need to know that, but--
I'm back!
Ice, why were you mentioning tacos?
Oh, um, mmm....
Okay, onto the story.
I squinted off into the distance. It was getting hard to see, because the sky had already morphed from red and orange to a light blue streak of color. I wasn't even near the entrance. I cursed under my breath for my (slightly lazy) slow pace, and began to sprint across the dirt trail. Luckily, the entrance was coming into view.
Unluckily, I crashed into another pony. It was really hard to see in the dark, so I couldn't distinguish any features of her. All I knew was that she crashed into me.
Thanks for the early moon rising, Luna.
Though, by the light of the moon, I realized that she had deep, magenta eyes. They were (sorry, I can't help it) pretty cute.
I shook off the feeling. No time for some *ick, gag* romance in this fanfic. A good fanfic should be cool.
What have I told you about breaking the fourth wall?
Sorry.
I blurted without thinking, "Watch where you're going!"
...What? I was in a rush at that time, okay? I had no time for apologizing.
I got what I deserved after that, as she shoved me and stated back, "You watch where you're going!"
Then she gallopped off. I muttered quietly as I turned around and got back on track.
It was only a few minutes until the moon had fully risen. I stared at it as I walked, and almost saw the image of Luna smiling down at me, as if she thought I was worthy of the title "Guardian of the Galaxy."
That's a movie.
Shut up.
Anyways, I stared at Moon Luna so long that I wandered into some town without knowing.
That town was Ponyville.
I crashed face-first into a pony with a bucket of apples and he gave me a scowl.
"Uh, heheh, hi." I sheepishly said. "I'm Starsky, and I'm wondering if this is--" The pony stopped me mid-sentence and spat at me, "Yeah, Starsky? Well, I'm [REDACTED] and you're in Ponyville! I paid nineteen bits for those apples!" He stomped off, intentionally bumping my shoulder on the way.
"[REDACTED] is a dumb name," I muttered to myself.
Wow, epic comeback.
I know, right?
Well, after that, I went off to look for a place to stay. There were not many ponies outside, so that was good. Thanks, Luna! Anyways, I trotted in circles around the huge tree-house-library thing, giving me a 360 degrees view. As I turned for probably the third time and looked deep, I found a "FOR RENT-40 BITS PER MONTH" sign in front of a house. Seemed legit.
I cantered toward the house and stared at it. A glorious two-story building. I wanted to see if it was good enough to live in, so I opened the door and went inside.
I inspected the empty living room. It had everything I needed- a couch, a drawer, a TV! "This is a place I can live in," I remarked.
Then I saw the bathroom.
A toilet, a sink, a few towels, and a mare showering. Good thing we don't normally wear clothes!
The mare looked at me, eyes widened. My face was red, and I can feel it burning. "SORRY!!!" I yelled, immediately dashing out of the house.
I turned toward the FOR RENT sign, which now said HAHA, TROLLED YOU. My eyes must've been playing tricks on me. I was pretty sleepy, after all.
I then heard a snicker coming from behind me. I twirled around, but no one was there. Then I looked up. A pegasus pony laying on a cloud, laughing her wings off. I saw she was holding the FOR RENT sign. Embarrased and angered, I flew up to her and shouted, "YOU LITTLE SALTED PRETZEL! And not the good kind! You--!"
Then I realized something- The pegasus had blue fur and a rainbow mane. My eyes went all slot-machiney and I recognized her quickly. Without thinking, I grabbed her and hugged her tightly, using all of my strength.
Rainbow Dash gasped, "A-aagh, h-hiii..." I saw she was turning purple, and let go of her quickly. "Uh, sorry." I said as her color returned. She said, "Geez, what's your problem? Looners." Pretending that didn't sting, I tried to make her remember who I was.
"Starsky? Remeber?" I said. She still looked confused. I tried again. "Wing casts! Best friend!" Rainbow slowly backed away mid-air. I had no choice but the last resort. "...Starbypoo?" I reluctantly but finally said. However, it worked! Her eyes went all slot-machiney , flashing pictures of moments me and her shared.
Starbypoo was a nickname my mom gave me. When Rainbow Dash came over to my house for a hangout, my mom revealed the nickname. I was embarrassed, and Rainbow kept calling me that from then on. It was kind of better when Rainbow did it, though.
Continuing, her reaction was not one I expected. Instead of hugging me and asking me how I've been, she had a horrified look on her face. "W-what, Rainbow?" I asked, worried. She stared at me and her wings just grew stiff. She fell to the ground.
Surprised and scared, I flew down to her and held out my hoof so she could get up. "Rainbow! Are you okay?!" She slapped away my hoof and stammered, "J-j-just get a-away. I don't w-want you here."
Then her next few words left me stunned.
"Go away. I-I hate you."
With that, she darted off into the cold, black, night sky, while I was left in my own cold, black, dark place.
Author's Note
This is just the little portion of the huge story I wanted to make. Welp, I can't finish it. I failed you, LuseWing...
