"Come on, Gale! Just sign it!"

The pegasus poured over the paper once again, making sure there was nothing malicious hiding within. He had waited for this day for too long. He wasn't going to let anything ruin it. He had been wanting this house for a long time, but had some difficulty. The previous version of this very contract had a hidden statement in the middle of it, stating "Contrary to anything previously stated in this document, the original owner can return at any time and expect his house to be returned to him." It had been nasty, and Gale had to wait for a little while for him to bring the price down.

He looked over the contract some more, the other ponies present tapping their hooves or pacing with impatience. Gale finally seemed to decide there was nothing hidden in the contract, because a moment later he signed it. His friends sighed with relief when he dropped a large bag of gold on top of the signed papers. The old stallion picked them up, as Gale and his friends rushed inside to admire the new place.

It was in the upper portion of Canterlot, close to the castle. Gale and his friends had saved up their bits for a long time in order to come live here. It was the nicest place that ponies fresh out of home could afford. Built to accommodate many ponies, it was a fairly large house, with multiple bedrooms. It had a large kitchen area, as well as a large main floor.

They all instantly ran up the stairs to claim bedrooms, which they had been fighting over ever since they had taken their first look at the place. Gale flew, and was therefore the fastest one to get up the stairs. He picked the room that they had all been fighting over; a medium sized room, which had the softest bed. It had a nice spot to put his desk, and a little alcove where he could've put a flat-screen TV. But Television was still obscenely expensive, and they could in no way afford one.

Midnight Sky was next up the stairs, and took the smallest bedroom, which nopony else complained about. It wasn't the nicest one, after all.

This left Ventus and Taio to rush for the final two rooms. Ventus was faster, and got the better one. But Taio didn't really mind; Midnight Sky had taken the worst room, after all, and even this third-spot room was much higher quality than anything he had occupied in Manehattan.

After claiming the rooms, the four friends went to begin unloading their stuff into the house.

"I thought you would've gone for my room, Sky!" Ventus called as he lifted his saddlebags onto his back. "You're crazy! How come you picked that room on the end instead?"

Sky looked back at the earth pony from underneath all the stuff he was levitating. "I like smaller rooms," he shrugged, some boxes falling off of the pile as he did so, leaving the unicorn cursing under his breath.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Taio joined in as he helped Sky pick up the stuff that fell. "I got a better room for it."

After unloading everything, everyone went to the kitchen to make themselves some food. Everyone, that is, except Gale, who was sitting up in his chair. He had already unpacked everything he had brought, which hadn't been much. His computer was set up, with its neon lights glowing. He sat, relishing his victory. The place finally belonged to them, after a year of planning and hard work. It was immensely satisfying to be sitting there after all of that time. He sat there for a few minutes longer, before he realized how hungry he was.

He headed down the stairs, and onto the main floor. A giant window on the opposite wall from the front door gave them a spectacular view of most of the city. His friends were already there, eating their various lunches they had all made in the new kitchen. Gale went and just made himself a hay sandwich. After coming back in, he noticed Midnight Sky, who had a smile on his face, although nopony was talking in the moment.

"I've got something to show you guys," Sky said before Gale could ask. He had an air of excitement about him as he levitated something from beneath him.

"I found this in my new bedroom, just sitting there in the closet."

He revealed something grey and set it on the table. Everyone stared at the box on the table, which Gale recognized almost immediately.

"An N64?" he asked, picking the object up. He examined every surface on the thing. It was, indeed, a game system from their childhood, one that had developed shortly after the TV had.

"Yup," Sky replied, grinning as the rest of his friends eyed the system in awe. There were hardly any working N64s left these days.

"How are we gonna play it?" Taio asked. "We don't have a TV."

"I'm pretty sure I can get one from work," Sky replied, "but I'd have nowhere to put it. Gale took the room with a slot for it."

"So let's just put it in there," Gale said. "You should've been faster up the stairs."

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"Oh come on, Sky! Give the rest of us a chance!" Taio yelled in exasperation, as he again was knocked off of the ledge.

It had been a couple of days since they had moved in. Taio, Sky, and Ventus were still playing Super Smash Ponies, which had been the only game for the N64 in the whole house. Sky came back from work with a few other unicorns, who hauled the giant box containing a 60-inch TV into the house. Gale had given them permission to use his room while he wasn't home, so they set the TV up in the slot in his room.

"Sorry Taio," Sky replied, concentrating as he fought Ventus' avatar. "I've got to make the most out of Gale not being here to kick my sorry butt."

"Where is he, anyways?" Ventus asked, as his character was again knocked flying off the screen. "His shift at work ended like an hour ago."

"I don't know," Sky said with a shrug, setting his controller down. "I think he said something about going to look for more games."

"That would be nice," Taio said as he stood up to exit the room. "Sweet Celestia, I'm sick of you guys killing me so much." He trotted forward and out of the room.

"Want to go a few more rounds?" Ventus asked.

Sky shook his head. "I've got the morning shift tomorrow," he said with a grim expression. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay early tonight."

Ventus looked surprised, "That's a first."

Sky grunted, and stood up to leave. He walked all the way to his bedroom and fell down onto his bed, attempting to sleep.

After another hour, however, it became evident that he wasn't going to be able to sleep. Sky had insomnia, and he knew it was kicking in tonight. He lay there until midnight, before finally getting up and going down the stairs again. He noticed a panel on the wall that he hasn't seen before. Upon opening said panel, he realized they had a security system that hadn't been set up yet. Might as well set it up, he thought. But he sincerely hoped that they wouldn't ever need it as he began the setup process.

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Gale looked around the shops as the taxi carriage drove him through downtown. He didn't quite know what he was looking for yet, but he knew he'd know it when he saw it.

He looked through a pawn shop window, and felt something odd stir within his mind. He felt like he needed to stop there, as though someone was calling to him. The store he was looking at looked like a shady place; it was dark, empty, and slightly run-down. Normally, he would've avoided this place at all costs. But again, he felt like there was somepony waiting for him in there. He sighed.

"Stop here," he told the stallion pulling the cab. When the stallion had pulled them over in front of the pawn shop, Gale jumped out. "Wait for me," he said, dropping a larger amount of gold into the stallion's hooves than he owed. "I shouldn't be long." He walked up to the deserted pawn shop. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors.

The place had a dark air about it, and Gale wondered what had called him to this shady shop. As he looked around, he saw weird-looking amulets and gemstones, and saw illustrations of strange symbols. He wondered silently what kind of ponies this shop normally attracted during their regular hours. He was so distracted by the weird shop that he didn't notice the pony coming up behind him, until he was tapped on the shoulder.

He jumped with fright, whipping around to see an acne-ridden, teenage colt shrinking back.

"I'm sorry," the colt said with an apologetic expression. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Gale recovered from his moment of fright, facing the colt, "It's fine. Actually, you can help. I'm looking--"

"If you're here to buy," the colt interrupted swiftly, "then you need to see my grandpa. He's the one who actually owns this place."

The colt began trotting away, motioning for Gale to follow. He walked through the dark shop, still slightly awed by the sheer amounts of weird objects within. They walked through a back door behind the desk, and Gale laid eyes on a very old, very frail-looking stallion. He was in a wheelchair, and looked as though he had been sitting there, just withering away for years. When they entered, the old stallion looked up at his grandson.

"Yes," the teenage colt said, startling Gale. "He's here to buy."

Gale looked between the two of them, confused. The old stallion laid eyes on him, examining him.

"He's asking what you're looking for," the teenager said, also looking at Gale, who was now shocked.

"Are you two--?"

"Communicating? Yes. He hasn't been able to speak since I was born, but we learned to communicate anyways. I am his voice for his customers."

Gale didn't question further; he was now wanting out of this shop as fast as possible. The old man was slightly eerie, almost as though his jet black eyes were staring right through your soul.

"Well," Gale began, before hesitating. He wondered if he was just wasting his time, but something had called him to the dark shop. "Actually... I was wondering... do you guys have any old N64 games?"

His hopes had already died halfway through his sentence, but to his surprise, the teenager spoke up eagerly. "We do! A whole bin of them! Be right back!"

He ran back out of the door, leaving Gale and the old stallion in silence. It was an uncomfortable silence for him, as the old man wouldn't stop staring at him. He was relieved when his digital messenger beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out.

Welcome back, Erősszél!

You have a new message from Darkened5ky.

He opened the message dialogue box.

Just thought I’'d let you guys know; we have a security system. The passcode will be 4928, then you hit a key. #1 disarms it. If we’'re home, we have to set it to option #3. But when we’'re gone, set it to #2 to activate the motion sensors and the cameras. You don'’t need the code to arm it; just press # and whatever option we’'re doing at the time. I would'’ve told all of you this in person, but I have early shift tomorrow, so I won’'t see you. Don’'t accidentally trip the alarm.

-Midnight Sky

Gale had completely forgotten the time. Looking at his messenger, he saw that it was well past midnight. As he looked back up, the teenage colt came back in, carrying a whole basket of N64 games. Gale started sifting through the contents. Maybe he would return later for a proper look at the games, but for now he just wanted to get home. He didn’'t see anything that really interested him in the top half of the bin, and almost withdrew. But the final game in the basket caught his eye. He pulled it out. It was a plain silver cartridge without any artwork. Instead, the words The Mask of Death were written across where the art would’'ve been. He recognized this game. It had been one from his childhood that he had played many times. But then his parents had sold the N64 when they got the newer X940, and sold all of the games along with it. He thought back to his childhood memories of this game, and had a burning desire to play it again. Although, this was an odd-looking version of the game. Without the cover art and with the marker, it looked as though it had been pirated. With this shop'’s origins, Gale realized, it probably was pirated. But his desire to have the old game won out over ethics.

“"How much for this one?”" He asked the old stallion, holding up the game for him to see.

For a while, the old man said nothing. The teenage stallion looked tense, as he looked at the cartridge, something that struck Gale as odd. But he didn’'t think about it too much as he waited for the stallion to commune with his grandson. He finally did, and his grandson looked shocked.

"“What?!" he said, not believing what his grandpa was saying, “"But grandpa, this is--"

The old man gave his grandson a cold, hard stare, obviously giving him some kind of warning. Even Gale could see the emotion of the message in the old stallion'’s eyes, and they weren’'t even looking at him in that moment. The teenage stallion nodded,“ "Yes, grandfather."

” Looking defeated, he turned back to Gale.

“"He says you can have it. Free.”"

Gale was surprised by this act of kindness. He was lost for words as he sat there.

“"I..." he said, pausing, "...I don’'t know what to say.”"

The old man looked at Gale, trying to say something with his sad eyes. The teenager began translating.

"“He says this game belonged to another one of his grandsons. But he left it behind a while ago, and we don’'t need it anymore."

Gale felt kind of guilty, taking this game without paying for it. It was probably one of the rarest games around, and could probably be sold for a lot (minus the fact that it looked like a pirated copy) and he was getting it for free.

"“Thanks again!”" he said, bowing as he backed away. Unable to wait any longer, he galloped from the shop, but not before he heard the teenage stallion say something in a whisper. He paused to see if he could hear what it could'’ve been, but to no avail. He shrugged it off, and walked outside to his cab.

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Gale'’s cab pulled up in front of the house. He walked up the front door, before remembering what Sky had sent earlier. He opened the front door, and was greeted by a loud, piercing beeping. There was one beep per second, probably counting down the time for Gale to disable the alarm before it went off. He galloped to the panel, typed 4928, and then 1 to stop the beeping. It made three short beeps, before a red light turned green and the countdown on the display stopped.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Gale turned to see Sky standing in the kitchen, in the middle of making some food. He looked at the clock, and saw that it was 1:30 AM.

“I got a bit distracted,” Gale said, as set the cartridge on the counter. “Why are you up so late? Your message said you were going to bed.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Sky said, continuing to make some food. “I have to wake up in three hours anyway, and I’d probably only get twenty minutes if I tried.”

“One of those nights, huh?” Gale said, knowing full well how much Sky was prone to insomnia. “Oh well. Come check out what I got today.”

Sky put something in the microwave, then went to see what Gale was excited about. His jaw dropped when he saw what was written across the grey cartridge.

“The Mask of Death?” he said, staring at it with his mouth open. “Do you know how rare that game is? How much did you get it for?”

Gale hesitated, wondering whether he should say. He felt like he should say he paid for it, but decided to tell the truth in the end.

“Free.”

”What?”

Sky’s reaction was very similar to the acne-ridden teenager’s. He looked incredulously between Gale and the game. “How the buck did you pull that off?”

"I'm not sure," Gale said, looking at his dark cyan friend. "I was in a dark pawn shop run by some old man. He said it was his grandson's and he didn't need it anymore."

"That's odd," Sky replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Where was this pawn shop?"

"Somewhere downtown," Gale said with a shrug. "I don't know exactly where."

Sky pondered for a few more seconds, then shrugged.

"Well, I suppose I should try to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night," Gale said, as Sky grabbed his food from the microwave and began climbing the stairs.

Gale grabbed the cartridge as he re-armed the security system to 'stay,' then began to climb the steps. He entered his bedroom, set the game on his bedside table, and got in bed. He lay awake on his back for a while, thinking about everything that had happened that day. He rolled over, and fell asleep.

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Gale woke up a few minutes later. Confused, he looked around. He couldn't see why he had been awoken, until he shivered. It had dropped at least 10 degrees in the bedroom. He pulled another blanket over his bed, and it gradually grew much warmer. He was just on the point of closing his eyes again when something caught his attention.

The red light on the N64 was still on. He got up and walked over to it. Somepony had left Super Smash Ponies running. He turned on the TV to see where they had left the screen, and saw nothing. Confused, he looked behind the TV, and saw that the cables weren't plugged in all the way. He pushed them in, and came back to look at the screen.

Instead of seeing Super Smash Ponies like he should've, he instead saw a small object. It was spinning in circles, and growing closer by the second. He recognized it as it grew.

It was the Mask of Death.

"The buck?" he whispered. "Super Smash Ponies doesn't have the--"

He stopped dead, looking down at the N64. The slot where Super Smash Ponies had been a few seconds earlier was now occupied by his copy of The Mask of Death. He jumped as he heard the overly creepy laugh of the Happy Mask Salespony, which sent a new wave of shivers down his spine. He smashed the off switch, and the game died. But not before a dialogue box flashed across the screen.

My little pony... You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?

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"You must've been having some kind of nightmare daydream, Gale."

It was the next morning. Gale, Ventus and Taio were sitting around a table, eating breakfast. Gale had bags under his eyes; he hadn't been able to sleep since the N64 had switched games of its own accord. He had just finished telling them what transpired the previous night.

"I'm telling you," Gale said, exasperated, "It wasn't any nightmare. I was awake. Have been ever since it happened."

"Uh huh," Ventus said disbelievingly. "So you say you didn't touch it after you turned it off?"

"Right," Gale said, glaring at the earth pony.

"Well then, we'll go check it out after we're done here. If The Mask of Death is still in the system, then I'll believe everything else."

"What do you think, Taio?" Gale said, turning to the other earth pony, hoping to get some support from him. "Do you believe me?"

Taio hesitated. "I honestly don't know what to think."

Gale sighed in frustration. "Well, I'm done," he said pushing his bowl of oatmeal away from him. "Let's go take a look."

His friends had to race him up the stairs to his bedroom, despite the fact that Gale hadn't slept. He threw open his bedroom door and raced over to the TV, his friends right behind him.

"You sure about that?" Ventus said.

The N64 had Super Smash Ponies in it, just like it had last night. Gale sat there in shock, trying to process what had just happened.

"Look," Ventus said, "I won't hold this against you. You had a nightmare. That's all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to be at work in an hour. I'll see you later."

He left the room. Taio, after an apologetic look, followed Ventus out. Gale still stood there, not thinking about his shift that started in fifteen minutes, and not thinking about Ventus' skepticism. He was thinking about the game.

He didn't care what the others said.

Something had happened last night.

And he was going to find out what.

Author's Note

Nothing overly creepy in this stage. Although, it did somehow give my little brother a nightmare about the Happy Mask Salesman.

9/17/14: I came through and changed/fixed some things involving grammar and spelling in this chapter. Nothing storyline-related was changed, except how they obtained the TV.