Author's Note

WARNING: Their is a brief story about physical abuse in this chapter.

The Mask

It's been hours since I've spoken to Twilight in her room. She's introduced me to her friends, the embodiment's of the elements of harmony. This world was definitely a weird one, but not weirder than that pink horse that practically defies all logic. I feel like she was a mistake, like she wasn't supposed to exist, but that's just my opinion. They all sat at the table and asked me dozens of questions; who I was, where I came from, what was it like. So far they know my name and that I'm from another world. They surprisingly took it very well, hell, the pink one wanted to throw a '"Welcome to our world" party.

"I gotta gotta tell ya, yer definately one of the strangest creatures I've ever seen. No offence." The one called Applejack stated.

"Don't worry about it, I'm weird in my world too." It wasn't really a lie, I could tell them the truth about a few things, their are just things I have to either change or leave out.

"I'm sure you're not that different in your world." Fluttershy quietly added.

"Well, I'm not much differently physically. People just think I'm weird because of how goofy and random I can be." Goofy and random, good. If they ever catch me doing something weird now then hopefully they'll just assume it's me being random.

"Goofy!? I like being goofy, it's fun!" I almost jumped out of my skin, she just came out of nowhere. Stupid pink horse. Pinkie poked my nose with her hoof.

"I like your face." She simply stated. I just kind of stared at her from behind my mask with a confused expression.

"I'm sorry darling, but I must disagree. It's eerie and unsettling. Why ever would you wear such a thing?" Great, now that Rarity questioned it everyone else is going to get curious.

"I'm with Rarity on this one, it is kind of weird." Even the Rainbow horse is questioning it now. I have an idea. If I can come up with some sort of sob story I can make them feel bad, then maybe they'll drop the subject completely. Who knows, maybe it'll help me get out of answering more of these questions. I made my eyes drop and buried my face in my hands, I slipped my pinkie fingers into the eye holes of my mask and jabbed them into my eyes, making them tear up. They didn't see me do this, as far as they know I'm just covering my face. Twilight was the first to speak up.

"James...are you ok?" I lifted my head, my eyes were slightly red with irritation and had already teared up to give the impression that I was crying. They all looked at me with worry filling their faces.

"Um, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to..." Fluttershy, you're so full of heart, so caring. The others weren't heartless, they just weren't as moved as she was. Hell, Rainbow Dash just looked confused.

"No, it's fine. When I was young...my father used to beat me." All of their eyes widened and they froze. I continued my little sob story.

"He...he did it on a regular basis. Everyday after school I would go home and he would just be sitting there waiting for me. Then he would get up and hit me. It started with a few slaps on the side of my head, but as time went by he would hit harder...He started punching me in the face on a regular basis..." It was working, each and every one of them were tearing up rapidly.

"Eventually my face was more cuts and bruises than skin. He made me lie to the school so they couldn't come after him and it just got worse every day. Every time I looked in the mirror I was reminded of him. So I started wearing masks so I wouldn't have to look at the aftermath of my fathers rage..." I stopped there and waited. I didn't need to say anything else, they were all silently bawling in their chairs. Minus Pinkie who rushed over and hugged me so hard I couldn't breath while literally crying pools around us. I managed to get her off of me, but it was one hell of a struggle, she was surprisingly strong. When they all calmed down and recollected themselves Rarity apologized, going on about if she had know she would never have brought it up in the first place. I told them it was fine, that it was all in the past and their was nothing to worry about. They all felt horrible, they wanted nothing more than to make me happy. Pinkie threw me a party, I had a bit of cake, some punch. It was actually pretty relaxing. It was nice to take a break from my usual work and kick back, but I knew this wouldn't last forever. Even though I wasn't technically working, I was easily succeeding in my mission to get these ponies to like me.

They asked a few more questions about my world and avoided any subjects that seemed too personal. I told them about my dreams and ambitions as a child, how I wanted to grow up to help people. That was back before...that doesn't matter. Obviously I left out everything about my discovery and submission to my master, the last thing I need is for them to start second guessing me. The girls started talking among themselves while I stood off to the side by the punch bowl and watched. They seemed like they were having fun. Applejack eventually found her way over to me.

"Howdy, James." Now I may be a cold-hearted murderer, but that southern accent is absolutely adorable.

"Hey, Applejack. What brings you over here, shouldn't you be having fun with your friends?"

"Ah could say the same thing to you." Smart ass, she said that with a smile and everything. I kept my cool and continued the conversation.

"I just needed to break away for a bit, do my own thing. Ya know?"

"Ah guess there's nothing wrong with having a little alone time." I couldn't help it, I let out a chuckle.

"What are you laughin' bout?" I did it again, this time a little louder.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it. Your accents really cute." I told her with a smile, not that she could tell. She blushed and turned her head. I could see the small smile on her face before she looked away.

"Well, thank you. It's not every day somepony-er someone says something about me is cute." I wonder...

"I don't see why they don't. You are very cute and you deserve to know it." just how far...

"Nah, you're just sayin' that." She started facing me again, still blushing.

"Applejack, what I am telling you is the honest truth...I think you're really cute." Her smile vanished and she was starting to look like she had cherries glued to her face. She smiled nervously and said she had to go do something before taking off. I wasn't lying when I said she was cute, she really was. Plus, if I can get at least a couple of them romantically interested in me then if rumors start about me I'll have some influential individuals there to back me up. Sometime's I think I'm a little over-prepared for my own downfall, but then again I only do this because I've gone through this kind of thing a lot. These tactics are just things I picked up on and think to myself about how if I had done something like this I could have gotten away with it without discovery, or at least have bought myself some more time to leave town.

The girls finally called an end to the party and Twilight offered me a room to stay for the time being. I gladly accepted, but I felt my heart sink when she brought up her fellow princesses. Talking about how she was going to send them a letter about me and see if there was anything they could do to send me home. When I got to my room I leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. What if the princesses got a hold me and find me out? What if they had a way to send me home? Would I die? I'm supposed to be dead in that world, that's why my master brought me here. I pushed those thoughts out of my head and focused on the task at hand, and hell, if I could trick one princess into thinking I'm a harmless sap with a messed up childhood then I shouldn't have any problem with two others. I got back to my feet and walked over to my new bed, but stopped when I noticed the tall faceless figure standing right in front of it.