Hollow Mask

"- So you say that matter and energy are the same?" asked a puzzled Twilight.

The cyan pegasus sighed and returned to the chalkboard. During this day she had learned to handle the chalk with her hooves. It was not easy but doable. Hunter scribbled a short equation on the board.

"Energy equals mass times lightspeed squared.... Are you sure that is right? This is a huge conversion factor," mumbled Twilight on her left side.

"Relativistic mass. I am sure. I would love to show you what we did with that. Can you think of any solution how I could share these images?" Hunter asked.

Twilight remained silent for the better part of a minute before she responded, "We could share dreams if I get Luna involved... I'll write her a letter later and ask when she could manage to join our dreams."

Instead of showing any sign of understandig the pegasus stared at Twilight. She didn't even blink. The little alicorn noticed that she was not staring at her, rather she was staring in the distance. Alarm bells went of in Twilight's head.

Slowly the wings of the pegasus expanded. She gave off a growling and her face showed pure anger. Her whole stance changed from peaceful to ready-to-kill. Twilight was reminded that she had been part predator in her former live. She made a mental note to investigate how many of her instincts carried over.

Hunter flapped her wings and within a heartbeat had reached the door, opened it and zipped outside. Twilight could see that she didn't even bother flying above Ponyville and instead flew right into the streets somehow dodging every single obstacle. The alicorn was stunned for a few seconds before she followed her.

"Hunter, what are you doing?" she yelled in the direction the pegasus had dissappeared. She traced the traces of his sudden ability to fly. It consisted mostly of ponies staring at where seconds before a pegasus had dashed past them, only inched between his wingtips and their face. The tracks ended right in front of Sugarcube Corner.

Hunter had crashed right into Pinkie Pie and tackled her on the ground. The pegasus looked like she was seconds from killing Pinkie. She screamed right in her face, "WHAT ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO HERE, PINKIE PIE? HOW DO I KNOW YOUR NAME YOU MONSTER?"

Pinkie herself was unfazed by the attack, "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie. Ponyville's Prismatic Pink Party Planer Extraordinaire! Wouldyouliketobemyfriend?Idon'tknowyousoyoumustbenewwhichmeansyoudidn'thaveawelcometoponyvillepartyyet." The words came faster out of Pinkie's mouth than Twilight could understand them. Pinkie let out a loud gasp, "Isohavetothrowyouaparty!"

Hunter had remained silent during the verbal counterattack but now she screamed at the pink pony again, "I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THE PARTY! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE AND WHY I KNOW YOUR NAME!" With that last words the pegasus winced in invisible pain and fell over. Twilight spurted towards the strange behaving pegasus. She was unconscious.

"Pinkie, what happened?" asked Twilight the hyperactive mare.

She responded instantly as if she already knew that question would be asked, "I met her here. Why doesn't she want a party? I think she wants to be my friend. What is his name? I have to prepare the frosting. You remember the last time I made frosting. I used oranges for Zecora because I thought it would be funny..." She was silenced by Twilight hoof in her mouth.

The lavender bookworm sighed and began to levitate the unconscious pegasus, "I'm sure she wants a party but I don't think she is currently in the mood. Can you come with me to the libary? I want to know why she attacked you." With that she carefully removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth, ready to jam it the moment Pinkie continued her bombardment.

The pink party planer remained silent and followed Twilight bouncingly back to the library. As Twilight looked to her right where the Hunter's body levitated. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the flank of the pegasus. The cutie mark showed a strange silhouette overlaid by a simplified arrow.

"You have to remain over there, Pinkie. I don't want you to close," commanded Twilight.

They had brought Hunter back successfully. She currently breathed peacefully on the couch where she had slept through the night. The appearance of her cutiemark puzzled Twilight. She could make any sense out of the little picture. The alicorn looked back to Pinkie Pie, "I still can't make any sense of it. I have no idea why she attacked you or how she learned to fly so good in the span of seconds.

Twilight almost jumped when she heard the pegasus talking behind her, "She is unnatural, Twilight."

"Stop doing that!" exlaimed Twilight. The pegasus had silently slid of the couch and stood firmly on her hooves. Her eyes were locked on Pinkie Pie and Pinkie stared back, though more because she thought the situation was somehow funny.

"I can feel it Twilight. She is unnatural. She can bend reality. We have to get rid of her!" the pegasus whispered in her direction.

Twilight gave him an angry look, "No. She is my friend. I know that she sometimes does things that seem impossible but she is not dangerous. If you even dare to touch her I will personally banish you to the moon."

Hunter's eyes became slits still focused on Pinkie Pie. She then looked straight at Twilight, the angry look in her face vanished, "Okay. But I still don't trust her." She looked out of the window for a second and gave Twilight a questioning look, "How long have I been out? It's already snowing outside."

"Three hours. It's strange, I know. The moment we entered the library it started to snow. Rainbow and the rest of the weather team should be really busy clearing up, they should have managed it by now. I wondered what keeps them busy... But for now we are snowed in... In the middle of summer," explained Twilight. "And Pinkie has nothing to do with it," she added when she saw her looks.

While Twilight held her little speech Hunter had moved up to the windows, "Twilight, did you notice something weird out there?"

Twilight was confused for a second, "No. Why do you ask?"

"Has this Rainbow personally told you that they are clearing up?"

"No. What's up?"

"If it is really snowing, why does nobody wear winter clothing?" asked Hunter.

Twilight rushed to the little window and looked outside. The strange pony was right. Not a single piece of winter clothing. She see ponies moving through the deep snow like it was nothing.

"I can feel the illusion. Have you tried to get outside?"

The lavender alicorn shook her head and moved over to the door. She tried to open it with her magic and her hooves. The door didn't even move the tiniest fraction of an inch. Out of frustration bucked the door as hard as she could. When she looked over her back the door didn't show any sign that it was ever hit.

"Thought so. Something is in this library and it doesn't want us to leave," Hunter determined.

"You mean, one of the 'things in the dark'?" whispered Twilight.

"No," the pegasus mumbled, "This spirit is one of rage and anger. Keep your eyes open, it will try to kill us."

Twilight and Pinkie looked shocked at the pegasus. Pinkie was the first to speak again, "You mean there is some meanie thing that doesn't like us and it wants my sweet mane?"

"Not only the mane. This one wants your flesh and soul. Integrate it into itself."

"How do you know that?" asked Twilight.

"Just a feeling," the pegasus answered, "Maybe it has to do with my cutie mark."

Twilight shortly wondered when she exactly noticed it and how she could remain so calm about it. Then she remembered that this mare was weird in thousand different ways. Hunter being Hunter. Pinkie being Pinkie.

Hunter's ears perked up. They had been searching the library for books that could help. He moved over to Twilight and Pinkie who were currently busy in the 'Fiction and Tales'-section, "Something changed."

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight. Pinkie had been silent since they discovered they could not leave. Her hair was slightly deflated and her fur looked more grey than pink.

Hunter walked towards the broom closet, "This." He opened the closet and something fell out. It's upper end consisted of two barrels that were joined together. On the lower end was a short piece of wood and pieces of a strange mechanic. Without hesitation Hunter picked up the strange thing and inspected it.

"What is it?" asked Twilight curiously.

"Shotgun. Double barreled. Winchester 1866. Looks exactly like in the game," came the cryptic response. Hunter cracked open the barrel and looked at two golden plates, "Loaded. Iron shrapnels. Deadly at a distance below 4 meters."

Twilight's ears folded on her head, "What?!"

"The spirit doesn't want to kill us. It provides us the tools to kill ourselves," explained Hunter and pulled out a small sack from the closet, "This one is for me. It even provided spare ammo. About 20 shots."

The lavender alicorn got curious, "What does it do?"

Instead of a response the pegasus closed the gun again and aimed at the nearest wall without books. For Twilight it looked complicated to hold it but Hunter managed it. She moved her wing and pulled on a small pin on the wooden end of the weapon. A loud bang and a burst of smoke errupted from the barrels and the wall infront of it was pierced with dozen of little black and grey dots. "Dead," commented Hunter.

The two native mares looked in shock at the shrapnels that stuck to the wall. Twilight's mind produced a mental image of what would have happened if she stood at the wrong end of this weapon. Her face went pale.

All the while the pegasus calmly reloaded the weapon, "This spirit will try to convince you that the others are you worst enemies. It will provide you the weapons to get rid of us. Don't listen to it."

"What will happen if I do?" asked Pinkie.

The pegasus aimed the barrels directly at the pink pony with the barrel barely a centimeter from her muzzle, "This spirit will never let you go once it got hold off you. There is only one way out if it got inside you. I will not hesitate."

While he said that Pinkie Pie stared down the black tubes inside the barrel. Like for most living beings the sight of the wrong end of a weapon was angst-inducing. Hunter aimed the weapon to the ground again, "I will know when it happens. I can practicly feel his presence in this library. This won't end well Twilight." - she shortly paused - "I'm forgetting something. Something important. What is it?"

The cyan mare groaned, "This headache will kill me. I still don't know how I know Pinkie Pie here. And how I know you Twilight. Something important."

Upstairs Spike was sleeping. He had finished reshelving the library a while ago and felt rather sleepy. In his dreams he was sitting at Donut Joe's. He had eaten multiple donuts and drunk four cups of hot chocolate at this point.

"How is my favourite customer doing today?" asked Donut Joe. He stood infront of Spike, the only visitor of the small cafe.

"I'm okay. Twilight has kept me awake the last months for her stupid problem and now it was all worthless because of this stupid mare," he sputtered, "Atleast she appreciates my pancakes."

Donut Joe leaned forward, "You know, this is all Twilight's fault if you ask me. She collided with this weirdo. And it was she, who commanded you to reshelve the library over and over again. She holds you back on Rarity."

"You are a wise stallion," muttered the dragon, "But I can't just straight up tell her that I don't like it being her assistant all the time, can I?"

"I think this is were you are incorrect. If you ask me, she should be corrected. She has been a bad mare and needs to be taught a lesson," said Joe.

"No. This is not the right way. I should discuss this with her."

"NO!" thundered a strangely altered voice through the cafe. For a second Donut Joe looked like he had been dead for months. His flesh was falling in big chunks from him. At some places his bones were clearly visible. Spike didn't notice.

Donut Joe returned to a normal look, "You have to correct her. While you were asleep she even invited that insane pink pony and brought the dark one. They have all to be corrected. They need to get their medicine. Correct these bitches. If you finish the job the manager has agreed that you will receive a reward. But you have those pieces of shit. THEY NEED TO BE CORRECTED SPIKE!" The last words were bellowed by Corpse Joe again.

Spike woke up. Anger flooded through him. These bitches need to be corrected, Joe was right. His claws firmly grapped the fire axe that laid in his arms. He would correct them. He would make the manager proud.