What You Wish For 2: The Book of Unicorn

Alex, Oscar, Twilight, and Lauren looked around their new surrounding area; they appeared to be in a town found in the medieval era. The people wore simple clothing, the buildings had simple shapes, and were all contained in a castle like courtyard. Alex was the first to bravely take a step away from the group as he looked around at the happy town and said, “This place is so familiar, yet so… different. Where are we?”

Oscar seemed to be the first to know exactly where we are as he looked up into the sky and said while covering his eyes from the sun, “Take a wild guess.”

Alex followed Oscar’s finger towards a massive rock like object that appeared to be hovering above the town, dark and riddled with craters, much like the moon. Its eyes and teeth were opening and looked rather sinister and immediately hinted towards where they were. Alex turned around to his dark masked companion along with the rest as he said, “We’re in”

Before he could finish, Oscar stepped in and said, “We’re not in Majora’s mask. Were in a much worse situation…”

Twilight tilted her head as she said, “How can you tell?”

Oscar pointed towards behind Twilight to reveal a small statue of a child, its face appearing to be that of a completely different person as it smiled at them with an ugly look to it. It sported a small green hat and shirt as it rested on its small mantelpiece. As Twilight reached out to touch it with her lavender marshmallowy hoof, its face suddenly distorted until the eyes were simple dark holes along with its mouth. It’s mouth bled shadows as it spoke in the very familiar Midnight Man voice, “You were so close, my masked friend, but you are still wrong upon that guess.”

Oscar took a step forward and was about to draw one of his swords only to have Faust stop him gently and say while avoiding eye contact with the statue, “What is this then?”

The statue breathed a breathy laugh, almost as though it was whispering. The cold air sending chills down the spines of the group as soon as they noticed the rest of the town melting away like a fresh painting, all before revealing a very familiar dark area with them in the center of the light. As they huddled together, the feeling of utter helplessness penetrating them again, the voice continued, “This is a customized game that our masked hero was thinking of. Very similar to the original game, Majora’s Mask, but this time you have to kill me before the moon lands. No continues and no lives. All you have are your wits and your weapons at hand. Once the first game is completed you will meet up along with the rest of the group for one final game as long as you haven’t faced it yet during this game. Good luck everyone… you’re going to need it if you have only ten minutes to find me and defeat me.”

Lauren nudged her way to the front of the crowd as she said, “Now just wait a minute, this isn’t fair.” Her anger didn’t matter though, the surrounding area returned to its original state to show the people again going about their daily business, the moon looking just as sinister as it looked down upon the town with its fire coloured eyes. Once everything turned back to normal, if this could even be considered normal to them, Lauren looked back at the group as she said frantically, “Ten minutes isn’t enough!”

Oscar began to walk past her as he said with his head low, “Well then we’ll have to make the best of it. Let’s get a move on.”

As Oscar walked into the distance, Lauren said with a worried expression on her face, “Where are you going?”

The man wearing the airsoft mask turned around as he said with a shrug, “We’re going to need all the help we can get right?”

Alex couldn’t help but agree with the statement, they were going to need all the help they can get in order to defeat Midnight Man, whoever he was, and reunite with the rest of the group. Alex followed close behind as he said, “So what kind of help are you looking for?”

Oscar turned his head slightly to look over his bobbing swords as he continued to walk and said, “Well to start, you can’t play Majora’s mask without the masks right?”

Alex was beginning to get a little frustrated with Oscar’s way of talking as he said, “You’re not making…” It was then that Alex understood what he was getting at and said with a gentle nod on his head, “Ohhh… okay now I understand.”

Twilight trotted up next to Alex and Lauren as she said, “What are you two talking about?”

Alex gave her a wink as he said, “Trust me when I say this kid knows what he’s doing.” Alex then looked up to the masked leader as he said a bit louder, “That is only if I can trust you in what you are doing?”

Oscar turned around as he said, “Hey, this is DC we’re talking about. I make things up as I go along and it usually turns out great!”

As Oscar resumed walking into the town, Twilight trotted up next to him as she said, “Usually? What do you mean usually?”

Oscar shook his head as he brought his hand to cover his mask as he said, “Ugh… Once we’re out of this mess I’ll tell you about The Gates 2.”

As Oscar continued to walk Twilight pleaded, “Will someone tell me what in the world is going on?”

Alex rested his hand against her face as he said with a gentle tone, “Just smile and nod if it makes no sense, it will make our lives a lot easier.”

With that, Alex re-joined the group leaving Twilight hanging at the back as she said to herself, “This makes no sense at all.”

A few minutes later, Oscar walks up to a man with a large bag on his back filled to the brim with masks of all sorts. Oscar tapped the man on his shoulder as he said kindly, “Excuse me sir but could we borrow some masks from you?”

The man’s face looked plain dead; it looked to be that of a toy for its expression did not change at all. It continued to look at the masked man in front of him as it simply said, “You should not have done that.”

Oscar began poking his chest as he said with a more annoyed tone in his voice, “What I shouldn’t have done is about to happen unless you give us those masks.”

Twilight decided that this was the time to intervene and get between the two while saying apologetically while looking at the man with the masks, “We’re sorry about our masked friend here, we just need your help.” As soon as Twilight noticed that the man’s face had not yet changed she decided to pu on her puppy eyes as she said with the quiver of her bottom lip, “Please?”

Twilight watched as the man’s face began to shake and quiver, almost like it was resisting the urge to look alive in any way. After a couple of seconds the man leaned in to Twilight as he said very quietly, “Follow me.”

The man immediately turned around and began to walk towards one of the houses, his hands still clasped and his face returning to a smile. As Oscar and Lauren followed closely behind the man, Alex walked up next to Twilight as he said, “How did you know that would work?”

Twilight gave a shrug as she said with a smile, “I learned from you that giving the cute face always works.”

Alex gently laughed along with Twilight as he said, “The one time I’m both happy and angry is about you’re adorable cuteness.” The two then rejoined the rest of the group as they entered a small hut; no one else was in the house but the five.

As soon as the masked man looked out the window to make sure the coast was clear he turned around and said, “You shouldn’t be here.”

Alex shrugged as he said, “Yeah you can tell huh?”

The masked man motioned for Alex to be quiet as he said, “No I mean none of this is right. It feels like yesterday everything was right, I was on my journey after witnessing the moon being pushed back and then today I’m back in the middle of the town and the moon is back in its day three position. Everyone else looks like they are used to this or that this is normal but I know something is different.”

Faust motioned for him to calm down as she said, “We just want some help and as soon as we do what we need I am sure that everything will return to normal.”

The man looked at her with a new expression, it looked like he was taking a chance and trusting her as he said, “Alright… what do you need from me?”

Oscar walked up as he said quietly, “We just need some masks.” As the man pointed towards the bright lavender unicorn, which stood out completely from the rest of the surroundings, Oscar lowered the man’s hand as he said, “Just the humans, she doesn’t need one.”

Twilight trotted up to the masked man as she said, “Why am I the only one who doesn’t get a mask?”

Alex just shook his head as he said, “Because I can’t cast any magic, I already explained to Oscar how it works Oscar needs one because judging by his personality he can’t throw a punch. And Lauren might discover how powerful her powers are with a mask. You are the only one who can cast magic at will.”

Twilight simply nodded her head in agreement as the man with the masks handed out only three masks, one for each of them. As Oscar held his mask the man said while tapping on it, “These masks have been kept secret and never before have they been seen. I am trusting that you three will know when to use them. My masked fellow I give you a mask that lets you master the weapons you carry, making you undefeatable.” Oscar looked at his mask; it was plain white with only one eyehole and a painted eye over the other eye. The man walked up to Lauren and handed her her very own mask as he said, “This mask shall grant you knowledge of what shall happen, making you perfect for planning ahead.” Lauren looked over the plain white mask that had only one slit to fit both eyes. It represented the ability to analyze the surroundings and create a plan. Finally the man walked up to Alex and handed him his mask as he said, “This mask will grant you your hearts desires, but at the sacrifice of your energy. You can go anywhere, do anything, but only if you have the energy.”

Alex looked over his mask, it had no eyeholes, it only had the shape of a heart that outlined the mask. Alex held it carefully in his hands as he said, “Thank you. If only there was a way to show you our gratitude.”

Before Alex could say anything more, the man raised his hand as he said, “We must go our separate ways, who knows what is watching us. You can show me your gratitude by using these masks wisely and defeating your enemies only with the desire to bring justice.”

Alex turned around as he said, “We are going to do just that. Thank you.” Saying nothing more, the group left the house back into the town. The people acted like nothing had ever happened as they went about their daily lives, smiling their smiles that were just as real as a puppet’s. Alex turned to the group as he said, “Alright, we need to find out where Midnight Man is hiding.”

Oscar jokingly pointed towards what looked like knights, they were obviously created by The Midnight Man and didn’t belong here, and judging by their stances, they were going to kill the four of them. He looked at them as he said, “Why not ask them?” Oscar watched as Alex lunged towards them and stopped him gently as he said, “You need all your energy for The Midnight Man, I’ll take care of these goons.”
Alex watched as Oscar slowly approached the knights, he looked at the nights as they bled shadows and thick heavy smoke. Alex jokingly imagined Oscar having troubles pulling out his swords and squealing in pain after firing a pistol. But what Alex saw made his jaw nearly touch his toes, he watched as Oscar approached them and put on the mask he was given. As the knights approached him from both directions he drew only one sword from his back. The sword popped out of its sheath into the air where Oscar took the opportunity to duck down as the knights swung their swords, when the knights were turning around to attack him again Oscar swept one of his legs under one of the knights tripping him instantly. As he jumped onto the knights chest while catching his sword, which had a handle perpendicular to the sword and was placed near the center of the blade. The other knight took the opportunity to swing his sword at the masked man. Oscar blacked the knights sword with his own and used the odd style of the blade to wrap tightly around the goon’s sword, making it impossible for the knight to use it. With a simple flick of the wrist, Oscar broke off the entire blade from the knight’s handle and watched it as it fell to the ground. Oscar then crouched and backflipped off of the knight while throwing his sword into the air, while at the same time popping one of his pistols from his holsters and grabbing it in mid-air. When he landed he had his sword in the opposite hand as before and had his pistol drawn. The two knights charged Oscar only to have the one with the sword shot in the face and the other one stabbed through the chest. The entire group watched in awe as the bullet caused the first knight to explode into smoke and the other one to lay there before slowly dissolving into smoke as well. As Oscar returned his weapons to their rightful spots Alex said with a look of shock and awe, “Fuck.”

Oscar pulled off the mask to reveal his black plastic mask beneath as he said with a chuckle, “This thing is awesome!”

Alex gave a quick shake of his head as he pointed to behind the masked man as he said, “Hey look at the trails they left, they were the ones who dug those tunnels right?”

Twilight gave a close inspection of the holes as she said, “Are you suggesting that they came underground from a certain source?”

Alex walked towards it as he said, “Well while all of this was going on, Lauren decided to analyze the situation and figured out that they were simple search and destroy goons Midnight Man had set out, she also said that both tunnels were set at a very slight angle suggesting that they came from a certain point on the map. My guess is that if we follow these holes we could easily find Midnight Man right?”

Lauren walked up to Alex and gave him a bump on the shoulder as she said with a smile, “Way to go, you managed to create a tactical plan pretty fast.”

Alex blushed a bit as he said with a smile, “I get those minutes of smart sometimes. Anyways we don’t have much time; we have about seven minutes left before something bad is supposed to happen.” Without saying anything more, Alex jumped into the hole and began to walk down it. Oscar was the next to go in followed by Lauren and Twilight, once they were in the hole Twilight lit up her horn to light the way as she said, “Let me make myself useful for once.” As Twilight trotted past Alex towards the front of the pack she said, “You stay close behind me, Oscar you stay behind Lauren, we need to give her maximum protection.”

Oscar nodded his head and walked behind Lauren, as they walked through the tunnel no one spoke a word for almost a minute before Alex said, “Did anyone else have that split second where they felt helpless when they saw the statue?”

Twilight nodded her head as she said, “Yeah, I think that Midnight Man has the ability to create those negative feelings in his victims to test their willingness to comply.”

Oscar decided to pipe up as he said, “You know the more I think about it… the more this guy seems to resemble Slenderman.”

Alex turned around to look at Oscar, who was almost invisible as he was dressed in all black, “Slenderman?”

Oscar shook his head as he said, “I’m guessing none of you have heard the legend then. I have a fetish for creeping myself out so I learned about this creature called Slenderman. Just judging by the name you can already imagine what he looks like, tall and thin. The legend says that he has the ability to create tendrils from his back and arms and stretch his limbs to incredible distances. Legend also has it that if you look him in the eyes, if he has any. You will lose your sanity. He lurks in the shadows and appears to those who believe him and will either take them away or disembowel them. His very presence is what causes you to feel fear and powerless.``

Twilight slowly trotted up to the three of them, her bright horn being a beacon of relief that casted away the darkness that surrounded them. She looked at Oscar as she said with a nervous look, But what about that Zalgo thing he was talking about.`

Oscar shook his head as he said, “He must not be named too often for he represents true chaos.”

Before Twilight could interject and mention Discord Oscar said, “Discord can suck it now that we have Z to deal with.”

Almost as though it had been listening over them, Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up as the whispering voice hissed, “So… you know the true legend about me… Good for you. For that I shall give you one extra minute, better hurry though because that leaves you at only three minutes.” Alex began to buckle at the knees as he slowly descended to the ground, the feeling of utter helplessness engulfing him along with the rest. As Oscar tried to get up the voice hissed ever so silently, “You all know what happens after your time is up don’t you? Or should I demonstrate with our brave little hero right here?” Oscar began to drop to the ground in agonizing pain, the feeling of his skull expanding from the inside like a balloon as he screamed for help. As Oscar slammed his face against the tunnel walls hoping in vein to end the pain he said in a demonic voice through his bleeding mouth, “ZALGO RETURNS!” Alex and the rest watched in horror as his face began to bubble while his eyes went completely black, watching in disbelief as tentacles began to protrude from his mouth covered in blood. Before they could exit his mouth though, the tentacles returned to their original place, sinking back into his throat along with his face returning to normal leaving him to couch and vomit blood as he gasped for air. Oscar soon got to his feet wiping the blood from his mouth to hear the voice say, “Better hurry… your friends might be in trouble!”

Twilight screamed in anger and fear after what she had seen, “You monster! You sick and vile monster!”

The voice hissed and laughed as he watched the lavender unicorn drop to the ground and scream in horror for no reason as the voice said, “You don’t want to insult me. I control you.” With that the voice disappeared and the group returned to their original stance link nothing had ever happened.

Twilight began to pace back and forth as she said to herself, “We’ll make it out, we’ll be fine. We’ll be fine Ha Ha!” Twilight laughed like a lunatic as she pranced around them and smashed her head against the wall.

Alex quickly grabbed Twilight vigorously as he shouted, “You are going to be fine, you’re just under his spell. Wake up!” Alex watched as Twilight squirmed and screamed and laughed while in his grip. After a couple of seconds of her squirming Alex was left with no other choice but to kiss her on the lips. Alex’s lips mashed against Twilight’s as he watched her slow down before stopping. Alex finally let go of the kiss to see her begin to cry gently in his arms as he said with a gentle pat on her back and said to her, “You’re fine… you’ll be alright.”

Twilight was breathing shakily as she said, “He had me in a spell… I believed him when he spoke to me. I actually believed we weren’t going to make it out of this.”

It was a couple of seconds later that Alex picked her up and carried her down the tunnel, holding her with care. As he walked with the now sleeping pony in his arms Oscar walked up next to him along with Lauren as Oscar said, “That’s one powerful kiss you have there. How did you know that a kiss would bring her back to reality?”

Alex quietly whispered to him, “Love is the most powerful thing in the world and can do wonders if used right. Kissing Twilight’s lips gave her a feeling of love powerful enough to snap her out of the spell.”

Lauren looked over at the two as she said, “How did you know Twilight would feel love when you kissed her?”

Alex shrugged as he whispered back, “We were living with six other girls, either she was going to suddenly turn lesbian or she was going to at least like the one man in her life. Its psychology and stuff I don’t know really.”

Oscar and Lauren agreed that the logic there made some sort of sense, and followed Alex to the end of the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel Lauren slipped her mask on as she said, “This place has a large dome like structure obviously representing the source of the knights and judging by the amount of holes in every wall the leader had sent out large numbers of them in every direction looking for us. This place probably is where Midnight Man resides.”

Alex leaned in toward Lauren as he said, “Alright, you can determine that using the mask, but you seem so sure.”

Lauren pointed towards a sign that had the name Midnight Man scratched onto it as she said, “Well it’s kind of obvious isn’t it?”

Alex stared at it as he said, “Alright then…” With nothing else to say Alex gently dropped Twilight to the ground as he said calmly, “Wake up, we need the smartest pony in Ponyville to help us out.”

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open as she said with a large inhale, “I’m up…” As soon as Twilight made eye contact with Alex she remembered what Alex had done for her. She immediately jumped up and hugged him tightly as she said, “Thanks for snapping me out of it, I owe you one.” Twilight got to her hooves and looked around the room with Alex and Oscar ready to attack, the dome was enormous and was smoothly cut.

As they stepped into the center the voice returned, “Well… not much of a challenge was it?” Alex could feel his fears getting the best of him but remembered that he had to stay in control and he had no real reason to be afraid. Suddenly a large thick black cloud dropped to the ground as the voice hissed, “This is where the real challenge is…” Alex and the rest watched as a large thin body emerged from the black smoke and was heavily armored. A large knight’s helmet covering the face as the man said, “Which one of you is powerful enough to challenge me?” The knight gave a jerk of his arms and two large and thin swords dropped from his wrists.

Lauren quickly slipped her mask onto her face as she said, “Large slender body and very long and thin swords suggests that he relies on speed and distance, if you get closer than he expects he is rather defenseless.”

The voice began to hiss as it slashed and swung while saying, “Where did you get that mask?”

Oscar began to walk towards the knight, he reached up and pulled off his mask revealing his face for a split second as he said, “You said that this game could be beat by any means possible, so we got some help.” Oscar then slipped the other mask onto his face, he slapped his pistol holsters and two pistol clips flew into the air. Oscar kept walking as he quickly reached into his coat and brought out the two pistols and swung them towards the clips sliding them into the pistols perfectly. Oscar began to charge the knight as he fired the pistols rapidly, shells pouring out of the silver guns until there were no bullets left. Once Oscar noticed he had run dry, he jumped in the air and landed on one of the swords the knight swung at him. He swung the pistols and threw the clips into the face of the knight before throwing the pistols themselves. The knight shielded his face with his other hand and Oscar took the opportunity to pull out both his swords and slicing the hand clean off. The knight screeched in pain and wrapped his other hand around his severed arm as Oscar said, “Hurts Donut!”

Alex began to search for his mask as he said, “No time to make jokes, we have to kill this beast. We only have one minute left.” As soon as Alex realized how much time was left, he grabbed hold of the mask and placed it on his face. The missing eyeholes blinded Alex temporarily before he began to see shapes made of light, he noticed that it was very similar to infra-red but represented magic in colors instead of heat. Alex began to walk towards the knight as he said, “Let’s see what this mask can do.” Alex felt the bones in his arms vibrate with magical energy as he stuck them out towards the knight, his arms suddenly felt zero pressure as a massive shockwave was emitted from his hands. Leaving Alex in awe and the beast on the ground disoriented. Alex began to charge for it as he yelled, “Oscar, arm me!”

Alex looked over to see Oscar at the opposite end of the room about to toss one of his swords. Oscar threw the sword and watched in amazement as the sword was perfectly thrown across the room towards Alex. Alex caught the sword perfectly and watched as orange light in the shape of electricity coursed through the sword. As Alex returned his attention towards the knight, he watched as it got back up and swung its enormous sword at Alex. Alex closed his eyes but felt nothing and opened his eyes to see that Twilight had placed an energy shield around him. Alex gave a salute towards the lavender unicorn to see her blush before he stepped back out of the shield, this time prepared for another swing. The knight lunged towards Alex and swung it’s massive sword at him only to have Alex block it. Alex simply had his sword raised to black it and watched as the orange energy coursed through the sword. Alex focused a large amount of energy into his arm and watched as a powerful shockwave shattered the sword. Alex felt all of his energy leave him as the knights arm disintegrated in front of their eyes. The knight fell to the ground as Alex slowly walked up to him while Oscar said, “Face it, we beat you. Bring us back to our friends.”

The knight lay there motionless as it began to laugh slowly, sending chills down everyone’s spines. Alex continued to stand there though as did the rest of the small group, they were resisting the knight’s abilities to force them into feeling fear. The knight continued to hiss and squirm slightly but only watched as the group smiled at each other. Alex looked down as he said, “You failed, what you just went through was a team victory. You can make people feel helpless and weak but when they know they are strong and they know they are together they become immune to your spells. Everyone in this group is feeling the love of friendship and teamwork and are now stronger than you. We won!”

The Midnight Man took a deep breath before saying in a deep hiss, “Very well, you may proceed to the next game where you will face your inner…”

Alex watched as a sword was jammed through the knight’s mask before it lay there dead. The thich black shadowy smoke pouring out of the helmet and into the ground before the entire body disintegrated. He looked up to see Oscar holding the sword saying, “All he was going to do was try to scare us. Whatever it is we are going to face it together right?”

Alex raised his sword as he said, “Damn straight. Sorry for the language Twilight.”

Twilight nudged her head against Alex as she said with a smile, “Its okay. Let’s go.”

The voice returned as eerie and as evil as ever as it said, “Very well, say my name three times and you shall proceed to the final game.”

The three looked into the distance and shouted the name all together, “Midnight Man! Midnight Man! Midnight Man!” With that they were engulfed in shadows and disappeared.

*****

Meanwhile back in the small town, the man carrying the masks watched as the moon began to slowly recede into the distance as a large pillar of black smoke trailed behind it. The man watched in joy as he said to himself with the clap of his hands, “That’s how you show my gratitude!”