Here is the new chapter and for those of you just joining us welcome.

As for why I've remade the first chapter...It's quite simple I wasn't happy with the old version due to a long story involving a jerk, Basically, this chapter is closer to what I had planned in the second draft. what you originally got was the third or fourth draft.

Oh and before you go ahead and read the story should I delete the old chapters or should I keep them for the comments?

It was a quiet day in the shop. There were no customers It was almost like we left the closed sign on but that wasn’t the case as I checked three times but it was saying that we were open. I sighed as I could probably do something better with my time then sit in a shop bored out of my mind. As my thoughts drifted to other places I heard the bell on the door ring as I perked up as the person who walked in came up to the counter. “Hello welcome to Joe’s craft shop how may I help you?” I asked as the customer smiled as he snapped his fingers and the shop disappeared into a void. “What the Hell!” I asked as the customer took off their hood.

“Hello, James.” They said as I couldn’t recognize what their face was, it was like I was looking at an Eldritch abomination my mind couldn’t make heads or tails of what I was seeing.

“Okay what the-” I started to say as the being started talking cutting me off.

“James Alexander I have had my eye on you, and come with an offer.” The being said mischievously, if I could understand what I was looking at as he brought forth a gesture to himself.

He had me intrigued, so I asked “That offer being?”

“I am in need of a champion to restore Balance to another world.” the being said.

“Okay, why me?” I asked confused.

The being spoke calmly, as if talking about something uninteresting, like the weather, “Because otherwise, you're going to die in five minutes.”

“What! How!” I asked shocked I would normally not believe it if it wasn’t for the fact that I couldn’t even see this guy's face or understand what I was looking at.

“Simply put if I had not stepped in, three men would have came in and robbed your place of work and shot you dead.” The Being answered calmly.

“Alright,” I said in slight disbelief “So what do you want me to do?” I asked not wanting to die.

“I will take you to the land known as Equestria where I will bestow upon you magic to create, there you will take whatever path you deem necessary to restore Balance to the world.” The being said.

I was about to ask a question when the being levitated a bag of crafting materials “Alright then I guess I accept.” I said as the void we were in spun around fast. “Where are we?” I asked as I noticed we were in a forest and that I was wearing a cloak.
“This is the Whitetail forest, the closest town is known as Ponyville.” The being said before handing me tools, a bag of bits, a well as a green pony mask with blond hair or mane, whatever you want to call it

I looked at the stuff the being handed me and asked. “Alright is there anything I should know before I start?”

“First your goal is to restore balance and in words you will understand there is too much good in the world and not enough evil and it will be your job to fix that, Second do not try to use Discord he will make you lose sight of your goal and possibly cause you to be turned to stone. Third, do not create Celestial beings, You will not be able to control them. And finally, Machines forms are dangerous to use due to the flow of Data is too much for a brain to comprehend.” The Being explained before disappearing and I just stood there staring at the mask wondering both what I had just got myself into and if the mask would work like Majora's Mask where I would scream when I put it on.

As I was staring at the mask I heard something coming and without thinking I put on the mask. “And I told her that While I may be a DJ I don’t do-” A white human pony with blue neon hair spoke as her and the gray pony next to her noticed me. “Hello.” the white pony said.

“Hi...” I started as I realized I was speaking in a woman's voice “Do you know where the closest town is?” I asked.

The grey pony then responded with “Yes, its further down the road we can lead you there if you want.”

I faked a sigh of relief “Thanks I’ve been lost for an hour or two.” I lied

“Thank you.” I said as I began to follow them.

As we walked they asked me a couple questions “So what's your name?” The gray one asked.

I quickly thought of a name “Masked Puppeteer” I answered before asking “What are yours”

The gray one answered first “Oh, I’m Octavia Melody.”

Then the White one answered. “I’m Vinyl Scratch but some call me DJ Pon-3.”

“So what were you doing in Whitetail forest, I don’t think I’ve seen you in town before and I don’t think Pinkie threw you a party yet.” Octavia said.

“Oh, I’m a wanderer I just got here.” I answered.

“So where ya from?” Vinyl asked.

“I honestly have no clue I’ve been wondering for years and I forgot my hometown's name...not that it mattered for me I’ve never had any friends there so I have no reason to go back” I answered.

“That's sad, what about your parents?” Octavia asked.

“I...lost them at an early age I don’t have any memories of them.” I said sadly... it wasn’t a lie I really don’t remember my parents.

“Oh... I’m sorry to bring it up.” Octavia said.

I sighed before saying “It’s alright you didn’t know” After that we walked in silence until we got to Ponyville.

As I got to Ponyville I quickly learned that there was some sort parade for someone named Mare-do-well, which from the few episodes I watched while babysitting someone’s kid was actually four ponies trying to ‘help’ their friend stop being a jerk which due to being a kids show worked, I had knowledge of most of the season beginnings and finales due to Youtubers and I kept up to date with the episode synopsis’ just in case it ever came into conversation.

Anyway, I had a plan for tomorrow...I just needed a make a mask, Assuming that I could pick what to use, I had multiple options flowing through my head before Something else popped into my head, I needed food.

I took a quick glance around to find a place to eat and I saw some sort of building in the shape of a gingerbread house. If i remembered from what I've seen from the show and what I’ve seen online that was called Sugercube corner, which was a bakery. Not exactly a full meal but I was on a budget. I had to find a place to sleep tonight assuming I was going to sleep at all.

As I entered the building I saw that the owners Mr. and Ms. Cake were slightly overworked. I stepped up to order a muffin “Right with you dear.” Ms.Cake said.

I looked over the counter and asked “Are you always this overworked?”

Mr.Cake answered, “Not usually, normally we have a three pony staff but our only employee decided to take a week-long break all of a sudden.”

“Wow, do they normally do this?” I asked.

“No, that's why it was so surprising she normally gives us a week's notice so we can stock up.” he said before handing me my muffin. “Here you go mam... say I don’t think I’ve seen you around before are you new to town?” He asked.

“Yeah, I don’t suppose you know of any hotel or hostels in town.” I asked.

“Well, there's the old hotel on the edge of town. It's cheap. If that's what you're looking for. If not there are a few Bed and breakfasts around town.” He said.

“Thanks. I said paying for the muffin.

As I wandered looking for the Old hotel...honestly wish he gave a name to it so I could ask for directions but I did find it, eventually. When I entered I saw a tall buff pony standing there reading a book “Hello there.” I said politely.

The Stallion looked at me before saying “An hour is ten bits.”

“Oh, I’m here for the full night... And I’m not here for sex if that's what you're implying.” I said firmly.

He smirked and said “ 50 bits for the night then.”

“Alright then.” I said pulling out the bits and put them on the counter.

“Your room is 101.” He said as he handed me a key before he returned to his book. I walked down to room 101 and opened the door. The room was alright not what I was expecting which was good as I was expecting run down motel looks while this looked like a 3-star hotel.

As I took off my Pony mask I began wondering what mask idea I was going to use tomorrow. I had a few ideas but I couldn’t do them due to one reason or another. But a few hours in I figured out the best choice.

As I spent most of the night working on my mask I was having a worry in the back of my head that I wasn’t going to make it and would have to wait till another point to reveal myself. But lucky at 2 or 3 am I was finally done I just had to let the paint dry. As I placed the mask down I went to sleep as the stallion at the said check out was at 10, and from what I’ve heard the parade was at 11.

As night gave way to the morning I was awoken by the Stallion form the lobby. “Oi it's 5 to 10,” he said banging on the door.

I quickly put on the Masked Puppeteer mask that was on the nightstand and answered “Thanks.” as I got out of the bed and took off the pony mask as I went to check if the paint was dry on the new mask which luckily it was before I quickly packed everything away and put back on the Pony mask before heading out. As I walked to the front desk the Stallion looked at me as I had an awkward grin on my face as I handed him the key for the room and walked out. I had an hour to kill before my big debut so I wandered the town examining the route the parade will take and which would be the best place to strike.

As the ponies were beginning to gather to watch the Parade I sunk into a nearby alleyway and changed from Masked Puppeteer to my first real mask Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender. After I put the mask on memories flooded into my head of Azula’s childhood, her hunt for the avatar and her defeat at the hand of her brother and Katara, as well as her fighting technique and knowledge on how to bend both fire and lightning. As I looked at my hands and tried to wrap my head around what was happening I could hear the ponies cheering for the Mare-Do-Well. I smirked as I walked out to greet her.

As Pinkie stood on the float going through the town she noticed that her pinkie sense was going off ‘Oh no something bad is going to happen’ she thought to herself as she scanned the area for Rainbow dash she couldn’t see her anywhere. As she was looking around a blue fireball flew passed her startling her.

As Pinkie looked to see where it came from she saw a weird looking Pony standing in front of the float “So you must be the Mare-Do-Well or should I call you Pinkie Pie.” The pony spoke revealing her identity. Pinkie stayed quiet “Oh the silent act .” the ‘pony’ said before launching another fireball which Pinkie dodged. “I’ll just have to make you scream!” she said as she rushed Pinkie as she jumped out of the way of the fire daggers. But as she did so Rainbow dash tackled Pinkie “Thanks.” The warrior said.

“Who are you?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m just here to make a message and you’ll do nicely.” The warrior said as Rainbow was confused for a second before she could only feel pain. She looked down to see a small hole in her chest before she collapsed from the pain.

Before the warrior could speak three more Mare-Do-Well’s came out and looked at their friend and boy were they angry. “Who are you and why did you have to do that.” The first Mare-Do-Well whom I figured was Twilight spoke.

“Simple This form is known as Azula the princess of the Fire-Nation, but my true title is The Puppet Master, as for why I did this well simply put I needed to give Equestria a warning, ‘Balance is returning to this world of order.’” Azula said. Twilight was angry with this Azula or Puppet Master whatever she wanted to call herself but before she could do anything Azula was gone and only fire remained.

“What!” Twilight asked as she and the others removed their hoods showing the town who they were surprising them. Twilight looked at Rainbow and said, “Fluttershy you and Applejack get Rainbow Dash and Pinkie to the hospital.”

“What about you?” Applejack asked.

“I’ll deal with the ponies here, they are going to need an explanation.” She said.

A few days passed since the event of the Mare-Do-Well incident and Rainbow Dash had awoken from her mini coma and was recovering in the hospital. Twilight went to see her. “Hey Rainbow.” Twilight said semi disappointed in herself.

“Twilight or should I say Mare-Do-Well” Rainbow said coldly.

“So you heard.” Twilight said.

“Yeah, I overheard one of the nurse’s talk about it.” Rainbow said.

“We were just-” Twilight started.

“What trying to ruin my reputation, Twilight you're supposed to be smart yet whatever problem that lead you to do this could have probably been solved by just oh I don’t know, talking to me.” She said angrily before saying “Get out and be happy I’m still considering you all as my friends.” As Twilight left Rainbow dropped the thought mare act and started to cry as she knew that if she didn’t save Pinkie from that fire mage she might have died.

As Twilight returned to her treehouse she told Spike to write a letter, In all the chaos she hadn’t told Celestia about the Puppet Master. She called for Spike who was napping sleepily woke up “mmmm, Yes Twilight?” he asked.

“I need you to write a letter to Celestia,” Twilight said. Spike yawned as he took out a piece of paper and started writing down

Dear Princess Celestia

A few days ago we encountered a being called herself the Puppet Master, though she referred to herself a Princess Azula implying that she can change forms. The being attacked Pinkie Pie before hospitalizing Rainbow Dash. We don’t know there goal or what they are planning.

Signed your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle

After Spike sent the letter away he asked “So what now Twilight?” Twilight thought about it and she was unsure.

As the train stopped I grabbed my things and got up luckily for me no one put wanted posters of Azula around which meant I was free to do something. I had two choices and I needed to pick one soon as I was out of money.

I have two ideas for the next chapter, The first is a Bank robbery which ends not how'd you'd expect.

The second is the aftermath of a string of small robberies where James goes through the process of making another mask and his first Puppet.

You have two weeks from when I post this to decide.

Edit Slight change of plans I'm going to do both...Half because I thought it would be interesting and half because I sort-of forgot to tell you that this was a poll

I had been in Manehattan for a week now and I was broke, I had to sleep in the sewers, which wasn’t as bad as It sounded as I found an old listening post while exploring during my first and second day in this city which was a lucky find and the smell wasn’t as bad as I expected for being a sewer, the listening post was about the size of a one-room apartment which meant I could use it a temporary base but I would need to find something more permanent. The third day was spent scouting for nearby craft stores, while the fourth day was spent robbing the said craft stores, which while not getting me a lot was enough to get me somewhere. The fifth day was spent both remaking the Azula mask as I thought it was shoddy craftsmanship and spent making a Puppet while the paint dried on the remade Azula mask and finally the sixth day was spent scouting a major bank.

I had to say that the security around the bank was severely lacking, If I were to do half the stuff what I was doing at a bank on earth they would have called the cops on me rather quickly. It actually reminded me of a time I was waiting for a someone near a bank and they called the cops on me for pacing. Luckily I was able to get out of being arrested was that the person I was waiting for came to confirm my story.

Anyway today I was going to rob a bank. I was honestly nervous as a lot of things could go wrong, The puppet might not work, the bank might be more secure than I thought, remaking the Aulza mask might have screwed it up, or some unseen problem might happen. I decided once I got out of the sewers I would take a moment to take a deep breath of fresh air to clear my head of these worries, I’m guessing it's because I’m still new to being evil I’ll probably get better in the future.

As I made it to the surface and took a look around to see that there was nobody in the alleyway before I got out and took five minutes to breathe and clear my head. As I placed the manhole cover or whatever the pony name was, I began to walk towards the Bank.

When I got to the bank I noticed it wasn’t as crowded as it was yesterday, ‘Maybe it's a holiday?’ I asked myself as I walked to the center of the room and brought out the Puppet...well I call it a puppet but in reality, it's more of a carving. But nonetheless, I brought it out and cast the spell that was In my spell book. “Shim Sham Shalam” I muttered as the puppet floated in the air and transformed into Vile from Megaman X. As the ponies that were here looked in confusion at what just happened I handed Vile the bag and told him to hold it while I put on the Azula mask.

After I put the mask on I saw that the Ponies were still confused. I smirked as Vile fired his shoulder cannon into the air scaring the Ponies. Before I made an announcement “To the Ponies of the First National Bank of Equestria I am the Puppet Master!” I started as I walked over to the teller “Nobody does anything rash and you’ll all leave here alive.” I finished.

“W-what do you want?” the teller asked frightened.

“Simple take this bag to the Bank Vault and fill I-” I started as Vile began shooting at a pony trying to leave startling me.

“No leaving till we’re done or nobodies leaving at all.” Vile threatened as I had a bad feeling in my gut, it was telling me not to do this, but I’m supposed to return balance to the world, I have to do this no matter what my gut tells me is right or wrong.

“R-right, now as I was saying fill the bag with bits or you all die.” I said as the mare looked terrified as she took the bag and ran off to the vault in the back.

A few moments later she came back with the Bag full of Bits “H-here you go.” she said as I was about to leave Vile spoke.

“Master what about the Hostages? “ He asked.

“We keep them alive as promised.” I said as I could feel like he was looking at me in disgust.

But before I could tell them why I spotted some guards talking and walking towards the bank “I’m sure it's nothing, probably a foal playing with sparklers or-” he paused as he noticed us staring at him “Can we help you?” He asked.

“No...” I said as we just walked passed them “We were just leaving.” I said as I grabbed Viles hand and made him walk past the guards.

“-Anyway like I said it's probably some foal playing with stuff they're not supposed to have.” The guard said as we just away. As we walked away I quickly removed my Azula mask and went into the alleyway where I came from.

Two days have passed since the Puppet Master and their accomplice was seen exiting the bank with stolen bits. Every guard in Manehattan was on the lookout for the purple armored goon that the Puppet Master had. “I don’t understand.” A scribe said going over the report of the theft. “How is this Puppet Master able to use that level of spell so effortlessly?” She asked

Another scribe sighed as he said “For the fifth time I don’t know, and a more important question is how did this Puppet Master keep it running at the level he did.” The second Scribe said.

“Right,” The first scribe said before asking “Also how have we not seen or heard of this Puppet Master before?”

“Right, somepony whose talent is creating puppets and bringing them to life, we should have records of them somewhere but nopony shows up.” The second scribe said as Celestia came in “Princess.” the scribes said as they bowed.

“No need to bow, have we figured out who this Puppet Master is?” Celestia asked.

The scribes looked down at the floor as they both said “No, sorry Princess.”

The Princess smiled and said “No need to apologize, perhaps there is nothing to find.”

The Scribes looked confused and the female one asked “What do you mean?”

“Simple perhaps there is simply no record of this Masked Puppeteer due to them using either a fake name or not being Equestrian? To be honest, nopony has seen their Cutie Mark” Celestia said.

“So you're implying that this Puppet Master might be a non-equestrian?” The male Scribe asked.

“Possibly, we would need to see their real face to confirm it however.” Celestia said.

“But that raises the question how they can use high-level spells.” The female scribe said.

“You two switch your focus from who Masked Puppeteer is and search for Artifacts and other objects that generate magic.” Celestia said as the two Scribes nodded and began getting to work. As they began Celestia left and headed to Luna’s quarters.

As Celestia went to knock on Luna’s door as a sleepy Luna opened the door “Oh hello *yawn* sister” Luna said.

“Hello, Luna.” Celestia said.

Luna yawned as she asked “Did you require something sister?”

“Yes, I assume you’ve heard of the Puppet Master?” Celestia asked.

“Yes I’ve heard of them, what about them?” Luna asked.

“I need you to scan the dream waves-” Celestia started.

“That's not how that works, I’ll skip the hundredth explanation and just assume you want me to find this Puppet Master so you can send guards to catch them.” Luna said.

“Yes, thank you.” Celestia said.

“Did you need anything else?” Luna asked.

“Not really, the chef is making your favorite meal for dinner tonight.” Celestia said.

“That's good to know if I decided to go down tonight.” Luna said.

“Is something-” Celestia asked.

“Nothing is wrong sister, I’ve just had things on the mind.” Luna said

“Alright sister.” Celestia said leaving.

Later that night Luna entered the dream realm to search for the Puppet Master, it took a few hours of searching Manehattan before she encountered a strange dream.

I know I said this chapter would be out two weeks from the last one but I got bored and decided to write this chapter. Anyway, the Bank robbery was supposed to be a little stupid as the Bank teller wasn't supposed to realize it was a bank robbery till the Puppet Master told her it was which then caused confusion due to Equestria never really having one before and she wouldn't know how to react till he explained what was going on.

I'm putting this story on Hiatus for the time being. Mostly due to me having writers block when it comes to this story.