Darkness and Magic

After 2 weeks had passed, Mitchell had been cooped up in his study. Much to all his friends' worry. Even his sisters were worried about this.

"Oh, why must he work all the time like this?" Rarity asked as she stared at the entrance to his study.

"Mitchell has done this before, so this isn't much for him. Maybe this why Celestia had two separate studies created for this specific reason. However, Mitchell needs some sunlight every now and then."

"Emily is right. If Mitchell stays all cooped up in there, he'll lose all sense of reality."

"Then let's go get him."

"Wait, we can't just waltzing in there, right?"

"Of course we can, we just... uh..."

"This is the reason we can't get in there. Only Mitchell and Princess Celestia can open the door to his study, and the princess still hasn't returned from her trip, so that's one option gone to down the drain...," Just as Emilia said that, the door for his study opened, and Mitchell stepped out. He didn't look like how he was 2 weeks ago.

"Can a human really change that much over the course of two weeks?" Rarity asked as she stared in shock of Mitchell's appearance change.

Mitchell's hair had gotten longer and messier, he had grown a nasty 5 o'clock shadow, and he looked like he was surviving off coffee alone.

"Well, it depends on what you do. Mitchell, what did you do down there?"

"Oh nothing, just study everything the Magical Vanguard has ever done 4 times over, and I'm only getting out to get more coffee. I ran out of the supply Celestia gave me."

"Mitchell, you need a real break. You're stressing yourself out to much over this." Twilight said as she shot a magic bolt at Mitchell's face, cleaning it up.

"I'm perfectly fine. You don't need to worry about me. I've done this before, and this isn't even as worse as before. Emily can confirm that for me."

"He's right. He has done worse. He once didn't leave his study back on Earth for nearly 4 months, and yet, his room remained clean and he didn't smell. It was weird," Emily moved up to Mitchell and sniffed him, and nearly trembled from the decent smell, "Yup, he smells extremely wonderful. So he's fine. But still, you need a break, and we decided that-."

"We would take you to Manehattan," Emilia interrupted, earning a glare from Emily, "What?"

"You always get a way to steal my thunder..."

"Oh well."

"Look, I appreciate this offer, but I don't think I should go to Manehattan..."

They all yelled, "Why not?!"

"Well, I'm not one that likes big cities. Plus, I'm not really the social type..."

"Now that is a lie and a half. That isn't right. You used to leave the house all the time to party and drink before Mom died."

"Yeah, but after that, I became sort of socially awkward."

"How so?"

"Well, I just... started to dislike social interaction. The only time I left the house, is when I would go grocery shopping, or to deliver my potions. Other than that, I never really left the house, nor have I ever gone to a big city."

"Well, now is a good time as any."

"Rarity, I just said that-."

"Um, Mitchell, if you would... just go on the trip. I-I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, but I think you should..."

"But..."

"Oh come on Mitchell, quit being a sour butt!" Rainbow Dash said as she lifted him into the air.

"Am I really that light?"

"Come on Mitchell, this is coming from me," Emilia looked at him as he was in the air, "I think you should take a break from all this. You need to save your energy when the battle does come. It's good to know your enemy, but there's no point in knowing your enemy if you can't even face them."

"Alright, I'll go, just let me get ready and such. The reason I smell nice right now is because I drank a potion that hides my actual odor. So I'll see all of you in about 15 or so minutes."

-15 or so minutes later-

"Alright, I should be good to go. How long will we be in Manehattan?"

"A week."

"A whole week? Uh, just a sec," Mitchell ran out the house, leaving the girls behind in confusion. He was gone for about another 5 minutes before he came back into the house.

"What did you get?"

"It's something I made while in my study. I don't have a name for it, but it's for carrying my weapons and equipment. I packed my new loadout, and since we're going to be in the city for a week, I packed my melee vest just to be sure."

"Why are you packing all of that?"

"Protection?"

"We won't be needing any of that, so put that back. Does it even work."

"Well, it only works to where I have to put everything on one by one. I'm still working out some kinks. However, I am packing one of my handguns right on my hip," Mitchell lifted his shirt to reveal his handgun holstered on his belt, "You may not know it, but there's these people called Dimension Hoppers."

"Dimension Hoppers?"

"It's not entitled to just humans, but they're a group of magic users that hop from dimension to dimension, and cause havoc. Don't ask how I know about them, but a place like Equestria is like a picnic for them. They're main place of attack: Manehattan."

"Since the city is a big vacation spot for ponies..."

"Exactly, so if we run into any of them, and they try to do anything to hurt any of you, then I'll definitely stop them."

"Mitchell, I doubt that we would run into any Dimension Hoppers during our time in Manehattan, so don't worry about it."

"I don't think so. You 6 are well known in other dimensions for reasons. You lot have a lot of power for your dimension. Most Dimension Hoppers are power hungry mages, and they know the power all of you possess. You lot are a prime target for Dimension Hoppers. Once they know you're in Manehattan, they'll attempt to capture you so that they can absorb your power."

"I think capturing us would be a daunting task for anyone."

"I wouldn't say that...," Mitchell mumbled.

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing, but we need to be careful when we have this vacation. I don't want all of you to lose your powers."

"Hold on a second, you said powers, right?" Twilight questioned.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, you know only Rarity and I are able to use magic, right?"

"Yeah I know, but there's something much more about the 6 of you that's too complicated to explain. Right now, you'll just have to trust me when I say that all of you harness a certain type of power that's stronger than anypony or anyone has ever seen."

"Ok...?"

"Just trust me when I say Dimension Hoppers are a dangerous bunch when they outnumber you."

"Have they ever taken you down?"

"Of course not, they're not that strong. But they're strong and smart enough to burn you out."

"Alright..."

"Well, I told you the danger of going there, but shall we get going anyway? I already have my weapons on standby, so you don't have to worry about anything."

They didn't respond to what he said, they only looked at each other. This even continued on the train to Manehattan. They all had worried looks on their faces. Was Mitchell right about these Dimension Hoppers?

Meanwhile, his sisters began to question him, "Mitchell, you knew an awful lot about Dimension Hoppers. I knew some of stuff you said, but I didn't know they would actually target places and people just to cause havoc or to take their powers. That's..."

"Well..."

"Yeah big bro, some of the guys at my school were Dimension Hoppers, but I didn't know that's what it was about. How did you know all of that?"

"Well, I did spend a lot of time in my study."

"No, it's something much more. Most of that information wasn't even in any books about them. Why and how do you know so much about them?"

Mitchell fell silent as he looked out the window of the train, "I can tell you, just don't let the girls know."

"Alright?"

"Well, I used to be a part of the Dimension Hoppers."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah, but I never went to Equestria. I mostly attacked Ostracyce or Ojothas. Just the poor villages."

"Wait, my village was poor, and it was attacked 10 years earlier. When were you in the Dimension Hopper group?"

"I don't really remember, but I was a part of them 10 years ago."

"Were you part of the group that attacked my village?"

"I don't remember. We attacked a lot of villages."

"The village was in the most southern part of Ostracyce."

"Hold on... you mean... Mossbay?"

Emilia eyes widened as she looked away from Mitchell, "Do you know how many people were killed in that attack?"

"The captain of that assault told me that over half of the village was killed in the actual attack, but he didn't say anything about the aftermath."

"My entire village was wiped out, and I was the only one to survive."

"I..."

"What went through your mind when you joined them?"

"I don't know. I needed to let out the anger that was in me. The anger that I built up over the beatings my father gave me. They offered me this, and without thinking, I took up the offer."

"Do you know how many people I cared for died in that attack? Actually, scratch that, I cared for everyone in that village. All the kids, the elderly, even the lady that took me in after the incident when we were little."

"Look, how was I suppose to know you were in that village?"

"I could've died in that village attack!"

"And I didn't know you were in there!"

The two siblings stood face to face, a bright flame in both of there eyes. Emily, tried to detest the situation, "Hey, let's calm down a little. Tensions are high, and we should just relax until we get to Manehattan..."

"Emily is right, we should relax. This is a vacation."

"I'd rather not spend my vacation from a cold-blooded killer."

"Really? You know that I'm different now."

"Different? How so? If my memory serves me right, you could've killed us a month ago when you lost control."

"That wasn't me. I couldn't control myself."

"You allowed yourself to lose control. That situation was entirely your fault."

"Emilia, just let it go. That was 10 years ago. Again, I didn't know you were in that village."

"Of course you didn't..."

"Look, I didn't even know if you were even still alive," Emilia didn't respond to anything as she just stood up, and walked off, "Where are you going now?"

"Somewhere that's not here," Emilia walked past Rarity who heard the commotion from earlier.

"What happened?"

"Nothing important. Just some... family troubles..."

"Sibling quarrel?"

"You could say that..."

"Oh, don't worry about it Mitchell darling. Soon, you two will be loving each other just as you were just a few minutes ago."

"I hope so..."

Once they arrived in Manehattan, Mitchell attempted to talk to Emilia, but to no avail, she still ignored him, "I didn't think this would make her that mad. Well, I guess the destruction we caused in the village would be hard to forget. I could understand why she would feel that way. Damn it, I already feel bad about it, but can she not treat me like she doesn't know me. I'm her brother..."

"I guess Emilia is still mad at you, huh Mitchell...?" Emily asked as she patted his back, "Look, what you did was unforgivable, and when you look at Emilia, she doesn't look like she would forgive people easily. Especially family."

"I..."

"Look, give her a day to cool down. Try again tomorrow."

"..."

"Listen, I'll see if I can brighten her up. Why don't you go hang out with the girls today. Tomorrow, you hang out with Emilia."

"That sound like..."

"A great plan I know."

"That's sort of what I was going to say, but yeah. Go show Emilia around, and I'll go hang out with the girls," The two siblings fist bumped before moving on with their plans.

Later that night, Mitchell was basically crawling around on the ground. The reason? The girls literally dragged him around only half of Manehattan. He had never expected for that. Well, he sort of did, and sort of didn't. Once he arrived at the hotel, he was surprised that they actually had hotel rooms for humans. Apparently, Manehattan is a massive vacation spot for citizens of other dimensions, so they decided to build rooms specifically for those people.

Once Mitchell got to his hotel room, he crawled inside to his two sisters talking to each other about something. They stopped talking when Mitchell crawled into the room, "I can leave and lay down outside for a little bit while you two finish talking."

"No, it's fine, we just finished talking. Our beds are all line up perfectly here," Mitchell looked at Emilia who no longer had a sour face, but more of a shy face. Mitchell crawled on top of one of the beds, and continued looking, which Emilia took notice of.

"Why are you just staring at me?"

"Oh, it's nothing. J-Just..."

"Look..."

"I'll leave you two alone for the time being. I'll take a shower first, so don't do anything weird while I'm gone."

Emily walked into the bathroom, leaving the two alone. Both on different beds, but neither had yet to say anything. Mitchell then decided enough was enough. He stood up, and walked over to Emilia's bed. He sat beside her, and waited for a response.

She wanted to say something, but she was sort of stopping herself. Mitchell took notice of this and decided to start himself, "Emilia..., you know I'm sorry for what I did, and that I'm not going to do that again. Although, even when I turn into a full fledged Dark Mage... I..."

"You won't be able to control yourself when you're the Dark Mage."

"I know, but you know that I'm still in there when I am the Dark Mage."

"Mitchell, I'm more afraid of what would happen if you would get captured. You know that if the dark power inside of you is extracted... you'll die."

"I know..."

"Listen Mitchell, I'm sorry for going off on you earlier, but you need to understand, if you keep buying into your dark persona, there won't be going back once you're captured because of that."

"I know..."

"Mitchell, the last thing I want... would be to lose you again. I spent 20 years not knowing where you were,or if you were even alive, and now I find out that you're still alive, but... you're the Dark Mage..."

"..."

"You know what that does to a sister...?"

"I can only imagine how Emily feels. She only just found out when we first arrived in Equestria. How long did you know?"

"For at least 2 years."

"A year longer than me..."

"Wait, what?"

"They kept it from me so that I wouldn't react... in the wrong way."

"Did you?"

"No, I kind of knew, but didn't at the same time."

"How so?"

"Well, I knew my power was beyond human limit, so I had suspect something. Being the Dark Mage was one of those suspicions."

"I see... Mitchell..."

"Yeah?"

"You know how Emily has feelings for you, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"How do you feel about that?"

"Well, I think it's kind of..."

"Cute?"

"You could say that. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering how you would feel if I had those same feelings?"

"Do you?"

"Answer my question first..."

"Well, you sort of look like Emily, and you're really pretty. I don't know, maybe if we weren't siblings, I wouldn't mind it. But you know you can't marry your siblings, right?"

"Why? Siblings have married each other for generations. What's wrong with that now?"

"Because it's weird. Don't try to change my mind Emilia."

"Can't I-."

"No, listen, you'll know when the time comes. Don't worry about it. Tomorrow, let's go take a look around Manehattan. I kind of already explored half the city, so why don't we explore the other half I didn't see."

"Sure thing. Again Mitchell, I'm sorry for everything that happened today."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's my fault. I was a different person long ago, but now, I'm completely different now. In a good way."

"I know..."

"So should we... hug it out?"

"Fine," The two siblings embraced each other as Emily watched on from the bathroom entrance.

"So I'm guessing you two made up?"

"Yeah..."

"Well make room for a third one! You can't leave the youngest one out!"

Emily squeezed between the two as they hugged each other, "Isn't this hug a little too long?" Mitchell asked.

His sisters then responded, "Nope, it's just right...," And the siblings quite literally fell asleep like that. Although the next day, would cause some problems for the three siblings and the Mane 6.

A/N: This is a multi part chapter type thing. I was going to make this the mid series finale, but then I remembered something... it's going on much longer, so I know when the actual mid series finale is. However, this is more so a special chapter series. I mean, this is when you'll see Mitchell actually fight as himself, and not as his dark persona. Anyway, this was going to be quite longer, but of course, I'm the one that's editing these chapters since I don't have an editor, so I like to take less work off me so that everyone that wants to read more can do so without any hassle. Alright, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see all of you in the next chapter.

If you have any questions about the story, be sure to pm me or to comment down below. Don't be shy for there can only be one shy one! Alright, bye for real this time.