Caught Between Worlds

       Previously...

    Mark woke up, confident in his plan. It was time to go back to Equestria for more lessons. He packed his bags with the scrolls from his desk when he froze.

    A scroll was missing. And his door was wide open. He had forgotten to lock it.

    He had to get that scroll back. How much had Jacob seen? That particular scroll wasn't just notes on Equestrian history. It included notes on day-to-day Equestrian life that was unmistakably first-person. If he was suspicious about the obviously parchment scroll, then this would confirm his suspicions.

    Mark doubted that he would guess the truth. That would be unbelievable. But his brother was inherently suspicious, and would stop at nothing to find out what he was doing, especially if he thought he could get him in trouble for it.

     Then he had an idea; he had all the time in the world to prepare for the recovery. Or at least, all the time in Equestria.

    He flipped the coin on his wrist, transformed into a pony, and leapt through the portal.

    His main priority was not to be found out. He was going to stay in Equestria until he learned something like an invisibility spell. Or silent teleportation. Or perhaps both. The more prepared he was, the better. Even if it took years. He would not be found out.

    Mark emerged in Twilight's bedroom, intent on his new purpose for studying magic. Well, breakfast was before that. One must keep track of priorities.

     At breakfast, Mark noticed that Twilight was looking at him strangely.

     "What?"

    "Why are you holding a bunch of books above your head? You've already pretty much mastered levitation."

     "I'm trying to increase my magical power. If I exercise like this, it will be a lot easier when I try more difficult spells."

     "I see. That makes sense. Though, could you not do that at the table? It's distracting."

    "Okay," Mark said, lowering the books to the ground. "Anyway, where's Spike? I haven't seen him since our first lesson."

     Twilight sighed. "Asleep. He seems to go to bed as early as possible, then sleep in just as late. Except when he's helping me, of course."

    "Well, I'm not surprised," Mark said. "Adult dragons prefer sleeping for decades at a time. Spike's sleeping habits aren't so bad."

     "I suppose, if you put it that way..."

    "I should get going. I don't want to be late for school."

    Twilight instantly shook herself from her train of thought. "Of course not! I packed your bag with all you need. Now get going, before you're late!"

     "That's what I was just saying," Mark thought to himself.

    He trotted off in the direction of school, having finally mastered the use of all four limbs to walk.

    School was very similar to the day before. Today's special lesson was a review of cutie marks to those who weren't there the last year.

     Mark continued to practice magic under his desk, managing to create a small, flickering magical shield. He was so surprised at his success that it promptly shattered at a light breeze.

    Lunch was, as yesterday, a flower sandwich, but at least they had the decency to change the kind of flower. If this continued, he might look into bringing his own lunch.

    The CMC, although good friends, were exhausting, so he was relieved to find out that yesterday was their only meeting until the weekend.

    Mark took the scenic route back, going past familiar buildings like Sugarcube Corner.

    He thought about Pinkie Pie, and wondered why she hadn't invited him to a "Welcome to Ponyville" Party. He'd have to ask Twilight later. Wait, no, he wasn't supposed to know about Pinkie yet. Nevermind.

    He walked the rest of the way home. Home. Strange how he had stayed in Twilight's library for not even three days, and he already considered it home.

     As soon as he got there, he immediately started practicing that shield again. It was easier than he thought to create. It was just a barrier of psychic energy. Like the grip of levitation, but solid.

     Once he had managed to make a stable one, he recruited Twilight to break them. By throwing books. His shield shattered instantly. Apparently more practice was in order.

     Over the next few days, Mark practiced his shield spell with an obsession that rivalled Twilight's. She assured him that he was progressing amazingly fast, but he would have none of it. This should be the easiest spell, right after levitation. It was a derivative of the same concept.

    Finally, the shield was able to withstand a book thrown at it, and Twilight convinced him to work on something else. Mark wanted to practice until it could withstand Twilight ramming it, but she convinced him that that was not feasible right now, and he was ready enough for other spells.

    Personally, Twilight wanted him to take a break. He was already past the ability of most adult unicorns. But Twilight knew, just like her, he would not stop anytime soon.

     Mark started teleportation next, much to the frustration of Twilight. She insisted that he practice the slightly harder Safe Teleport spell. It would abort if not complete, making sure that he did not partially suceed. The remaining energy, however, was released outward, resulting in a small explosion.

    Obviously, he was forbidden from practicing it anywhere but outside.

    Mark, alias Blank Slate, came to a tentative agreement with the CMC, hanging out with them on weekends, but skipping all meetings during the week. He needed some direction from Twilight.

    The CMC were impressed with his magic, Scootaloo in particular thought it immensely cool that he could somehow explode without being hurt.

    He tried to explain that he was trying to teleport like Twilight, but they seemed to think it was much cooler to explode.

    One positive about all this was that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon seemed a lot more wary when he was around.

    It took him over six frustrating months to teleport anywhere. He finally managed to disappear eventually, however, much to the alarm of the CMC, who thought he finally managed to blow himself up.

     It took another two months to control where he was actually going. There were way too many accidental trips to the Everfree Forest, though thankfully not too deep.

    It became commonplace in Ponyville to have a Blank Slate appear randomly in your midst.

     Finally, he mastered it, and by the end of the school year, he consistently teleport to school instead of walking. Twilight considered this a huge achievement. Teleportation was harder at longer distances. Doing so accurately was impressive.

    The school year ended, and Twilight was able to teach him directly. She forced him to take days off from time to time, and the CMC visited regularly. Of course, Twilight spent most of her time with her friends, but she always had time for his questions, and they frequently had long study sessions together.

    About a year later, Mark thought about his original goals. He knew teleportation, but there was no silent teleportation spell. That was a problem.

     He thought about it for a while. Why did the teleportation spell make noise in the first place? Sure, the normal "Magic Noise" was unavoidable. But teleportation had an extra snap to it. Why?

    He paced around the room of Twilight's castle, feeling the breeze from the open window. Of course! The space you teleport TO is not empty! He would have to teleport the air back at the same time as he was teleporting forward!

    He wrote down the modified spell and started testing, starting short-range for ease.

    After a few tests and tweaks, he managed to teleport just with the minimal background noise.

    Suddenly, he felt a tingling on his flank. He looked, and saw that his cutie mark had appeared. It was a very curious cutie mark. There had to be over a hundred miniscule stars. Strange. He didn't understand how improving a spell would result in stars. He knew that a star cutie mark would usually relate to magic, but why so many? He made a mental note to ask Twilight about it.

    Frankly, he was surprised that he could even get a cutie mark. He was a human after all. Or was he? He could be just as much of a pony as he was a human.

    He ran downstairs, and Twilight noticed almost immediately.

    "Wow, congradulations! If I might ask, How did you get it?"

     She was almost bouncing with excitement. She also was bashing herself internally for not being there when it appeared.

     "I managed to improve the teleport spell."

    "What do you mean, improve? I thought it was just fine. Starswirl invented it."

     Did anypony but Starswirl do anything, ever? he thought to himself. "You know how the teleportation spell is rather loud?"

     "Yes, of course. It's always been that way. Why?"

    "I found a way to remove the sound."

     Twilight's mouth dropped open. "How?"

    "I just figured out why it made that sound, then changed the spell to remove it. It's slightly harder now, but less rude to other ponies."

    "Oh. That does make sense. I guess I just never thought to change it."

    "But I am confused."

    "Yes?"

    "My cutie mark is strange. I know that stars normally mean magic, but mine is a bunch of tiny stars. I can almost see constellations, and I know my special talent isn't stargazing. Sorry about those telescopes, by the way.

    Twilight winced at the memory, but continued. "It seems your special talent IS the stars."

    "What do you mean by that?"

    "Stars, historically, aided magic. Improved it. After all, the stars strengthened Nightmare Moon's magic enogh so that she could escape."

    "So..."

    "It seems that your special talent is to improve, and I guess strengthen, magic."

    "It does make sense, based on what I was doing."

    "Now you should get going. I'm sure those Crusader friends of yours would love to see that mark of yours."

    The Cutie Mark Crusaders were happy for him, and extatic that one of the group finally got their cutie marks, they were still disappointed that none of them had gotten theirs.

    Mark had an idea. Maybe since he had gotten his cutie mark, they might listen to his advice. After all, he wanted them to get their cutie marks as much as they did. They were almost teenaged now, and even Mark would find the lack of a cutie mark embarassing.

    "I know I'm not technically part of the club now, but I want to say one more thing. I found my cutie mark doing something that I like, even though I had to do it for a long while before it appeared. Cutie marks don't just appear randomly. Do what you like to do. It will come eventally."

    He looked at the CMC warily. Were they...actually considering what he said?

    Sweetie Belle spoke up. "You kind of sounded like Rarity there..."

     "And Applejack," interjected Applebloom.

     "But I kind of see what you're saying," said Scootaloo, and Mark breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. Finally. Something got through to them.

    Mark, now that he had his cutie mark, decided that a name change would be appropriate. Starry Night was what he decided on. It matched his cutie mark, at the same time not obviosly stating his real special talent.

    He continued studying magic from Twilight, even after he was deemed old enough to graduate from school. He was now adult-sized, and about the same age as his human form was five years ago. Wow, that was a long time.

    His magical knowledge, thanks to his good study habits, approximately matched that of Twilight when she was sent to Ponyville.

    He began to realise that something like an invisibility spell was not feasible. He was just stalling. It was time to go back and face his problems instead of hiding from them. He was going back through the mirror. Tonight.

    Or rather, in the morning. Better not confuse his body's internal clock.

    Star...um...Mark woke up, and immediately walked past a sleeping Twilight into the mirror. He thought he saw something move, but he was determined. He had decided to return, and he wasn't going to let a distraction stop him.

    On the other side, he flipped the coin. The sensation was staggering. He had forgotten how intense it was.

    It was strange to walk on two legs again, and it took a while for him to adjust.

    It seemed that his attire had also changed when he got his cutie mark. His navy blue shirt had gained a few hundred stars. At least it wasn't too glaringly obvious.

    Once he was back on his feet, he checked the time; it was 7:00. A Sunday. His brother would certainly be asleep, especially if he had been up late reading. Which he obviously had been.

    It was Mark's goal to take the scroll back. Hopefully, he hadn't gotten the chance to read the whole thing, and just read his history notes. That would be easy to explain.

    He silently teleported into Jacob's room. The scroll was right on his desk. It was too easy.

     "I thought you would come back for that."

    Uh oh.

    "Whatever I was suspecting, it wasn't this," he said with a half-smile.

    "Uhh...I can explain!"

     "And I probably would have believed you if you actually used the door. If you aren't my brother, what did you do to him? If you really are Mark, what the hell is going on?"

    "Well, it's kind of a long story."

    "I'm listening."

     "Well, it started last Friday night when I was using the metal detector on the beach..."

     Jacob listened, growing more incredulous by the minute. That is, until Mark transformed as proof. Then, he just listened in shocked silence.

    At the end of his story, Jacob said, "So that makes you, what? 21?"

    "Personally, I thought you'd freak out more."

    "Trust me. I am."

    "Now do you see why I wanted this kept secret?"

     Jacob sighed. "Yes, I do. I won't be any more trouble. I won't even tell Mom or Dad. They wouldn't believe me, anyway."

     "Thanks."

    Mark sighed and went back to his room. All those years of preparation, and he needed none of it. How could he have trusted his brother so little?

     Mark stayed for the entire week. He had forgotten in his extended stay just how much his family meant to him. he needed some time to find his roots again, before he set off again. Friends were important, but family comes first.

    Mark walked back through the mirror, ready to start another day in Equestria.

     He emerged to find Twilight inches from his face.

     "Explain."