"...Then I tried to slap you, and you know the rest." I finished, having spent the last few minutes telling Paul how I got here. "Now, is there anything else you wanna know or can I ask you some questions?"

"Have you tried putting the mask on?" Paul asked

"No," I replied. "Why would that matter?"

"I have an Idea," Paul explained. "in Payday, the HUD doesn't show up until you put the mask on, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"If you put the mask on," Paul continued. "you might get the HUD from Payday and be able to open locked doors or whatnot. You could get a job as a lock opener."

"Firstly," I responded. "good idea. Secondly, are people"

"ponies."

"Are people having trouble with locked doors that need opening? In fact, do locks even exist here?" Paul raised his hoof and opened his mouth, prepared to respond. But after a moment, he lowered his hoof before speaking again.

"No, but I still think you should put the mask on" I looked at him for a moment before replying.

"Alright." I reached down to grab the mask, but as soon as I touched it, my arms went numb and started moving on their on. In a fluid motion, my hand gripped the mask and pulled it towards my face. Then my other hand grabbed the back of the mask and secured it around my face.

As the numbness left my arms and I gained control of them, my vision was lit up with text, pictures and numbers, Just like the Payday 2 HUD. My jaw dropped as I looked over all of it. On the bottom of my vision was a green donut shape, my health bar. Next to it was my ammunition, my number of cable ties, and the time before I could use the flask again(Zero). In the corner of my vision read the text 'reach the bank' and out of the corner of my eye was a symbol of an open door with the text '500m' under it.

"I have some good news and some bad news." I said, turning to Paul with a grin on my face.

"Give me the bad news firs-No, the good news, give me the good news first." Paul asked, worry etched on his face.

"Paul," I put a hand on Paul's shoulder. "IT WORK'S!!" I screamed in joy. Paul's face quickly changed from worry to happiness as he stood on his hind legs, grabbed my hands in his hooves (somehow), and started jumping and spinning around the cabin with me.

After a moment of dancing around the cabin in joy, Paul stopped and looked at me, seriousness on his face as he asked me. "What's the bad news?"

I looked back at him for a short moment before shrugging my shoulders. "The mask wants me to rob a bank, or at least reach one, no big deal."

"What!"

As the sun slowly rose to its highest point, a cloaked figure silently glided through the forest, easily dodging the trees. As the undergrowth of leaves and wood was rushed past, the figure halted, switching to hovering in the air when a voice echoed throughout the woods.

"IT WORK'S!!" the voice bellowed, scaring several birds into flight. The figure turned to where the voice came from, rushing off towards it.

"Calm down, it isn't that bad"

"YES, it is!" Paul shouted. "For the FIFTH time, the mask wants you to ROB A BANK!"

"And for the fifth time, I can just take the mask off!" I shot back.

"Then why haven't you yet?!"

"I don't feel like it!"

KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK

Paul and I both looked at the door. "Expecting visitors?" I whispered to him, he shook his head in response, continuing to look at the door with concern plastered on his face.

KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK

"Hello?" A young feminine voice called from behind the door. "Anypony in there?"

"What do we do?" Paul asked, panic replacing the concern across his face.

"Don't worry," I said, patting Paul on the shoulder and moving closer to the door. "I've got an idea."

"Heeelllooo!" the (probably a) girl called out again

"HEWWO," I yelled at the girl in a stereotypical Chinese accent. "WAT YOU WANT?!"

"Is Paul there?" She asked.

"NO PAUL HERE! ONLY DUMPLING! YOU WANT DUMPLING?!" Paul was lying on the floor, trying not to burst out in laughter.

"Are you sure there's no Paul there?" the voice asked again, suspicion hinted in her... well, voice.

"YOU NO WANT DUMPLING, YOU LEAVE!" I yelled back.

After what felt like a minute, I heard the soft thudding of feet on leaves as whoever the girl was left. I turned to Paul with a grin that wasn't visible due to the mask. We looked at each other for some time before we both fell to the ground laughing.

After several minutes of laughter, Paul spoke up. "What. was. THAT?!" He yelled, pointing at the door.

"A plan that somehow worked," I replied with a smirk, getting off the floor and sitting down at the table. "Any idea who that was?"

"No clue, but she was using my real name, not one of my aliases, meaning she knows who I am." Paul sat down opposite me and let out a sigh before looking me in the eyes. "She came here looking for me, meaning this place isn't safe anymore."

"You got any other..."

BANG
CRASH

Something smashed into the cabin door, sending it off its hinges and crashing into the wall, leaving dust and dirt clouding the doorway.

"AH!" Paul and I screamed in surprise. Paul quickly backed away from the doorway, towards me while, always keeping it in his sight. While I grabbed the two lugers on my hips and aimed them at the door, fingers on the triggers. Through the dust stepped a figure, what appeared to be a griffon standing on her hind paws, with neon blue feathers along their wings and back up along the back of their head. In one talon they held a knife or a dagger of some sort pointed into the room, in their other talon they held a revolver, the barrel laying across the talon holding the blade, like how Leon held the pistol and knife in resident evil.

"Alright Paul," The figure said, revealing that they were the voice from earlier. "we can do this the easy way or the har..." The griffon trailed off upon seeing me, simply looking at me in disbelief.

"Put the gun down," I asked, my voice snapping her out of her stupor. "before things get ugly."

"But you are ugly," The griffon snapped back. "and why don't you put your gun down?"

"1. I'm wearing a mask," I replied deadpan. "2. I asked you first, and 3. I have two guns."

"Yeah well, Your voice is ugly, and I have the higher calibre and velocity, one bullet from this into any of your limbs could easily take them off." As the griffon smirked at me, I looked into her revolver's barrel and gained a smirk of my own.

"Well, you see," I started. "I have two advantages over you. 1. I have ammunition and aren't just bluffing," Her face fell as I called her out, her smirk changing into a look of worry. "and 2. You're outnumbered."

CRACK

One of the chairs at the table came crashing down onto the griffin's head wrapped in a green aura. The chair hitting her so hard that it broke a leg off and caused the seat to break in half. She dropped to the floor, dropping her blade and gun, which were quickly wrapped in a green aura before being brought up to Paul, waiting behind her.

"How the fuck did she get a gun?" Paul questioned, looking over the gun carefully. "The longbow was only recently invented, and where did she get this knife? This looks like one of those combat knives used in Vietnam."

"Why don't we ask her when she wakes up," I suggested, picking up her unconscious body and sitting it down on another of the dining table chairs. "I have some questions of my own. Hey, where do you keep the rope and fire poker?"

Author's Note

Sorry about the size of and wait between the chapters. I try to get a chapter out each week but I suffer from several cases of random bouts of no motivation, and lack of sleep, and they make it a bit difficult to write when combined with my ametuar writing skills. rest assured, I'll do my best to finish a chapter each week, or at least one every two weeks.