New guy at CHS: The Mystic Realm

That next day, Cobalt was seen slightly limping. As Cobalt was walking through the halls, he was getting multiple greetings from all of his former students.

"Good morning Mr. Cobalt."

"That was an awesome duel yesterday."

"You'll get it next time!"

"Thank you, I'm sorry I disappointed all of you."

"Nonsense, you gave it your all, and that's all that matters."

The truth is, Ididn't give it my all. I went easy on Lightning, which is why I used Last Stand. I knew Last Stand would eat away at my body. I'm not an idiot...

Cobalt looked on to see if he had spoken out loud. He didn't. He's done a good job not talking out loud, and he's been able to not look weird from time to time.

Soon afterwards, Harmony spoke through an intercom, "Mr. Cobalt, please head to my office immediately."

"What now?"

Cobalt walked off towards Harmony's office, and knocked on the door, "Come in!"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Take a seat...," Cobalt did so, and as he did take a seat, a large staff came flying to his head, and he grabbed it with one hand.

"And that was for?"

"Cobalt, I'm disappointed in you. This losing streak you have isn't good for Starlight."

"Come on Harmony, it's not that bad."

"A 254 losing streak isn't good!"

"And your point is?"

"I can't keep defending you Cobalt. The council ordered me to tell you that if you lose again, I'll be forced to cut you from Starlight's staff, and send you back to live in Canterlot."

"And my friends?"

"They'll be sent back with you."

"I see..."

"Think about this Cobalt, you need to live on your mother's name as a mystic."

"I know, but what's the point of being a teacher if you beat your students into submission. I'm a teacher, I'm here to teach them, not lower their morale."

"I understand, but you're not suppose to lose. You haven't been the same some you lost to my brother. What happened to you? You used to dominate every duel you accepted. Not only are you losing to students, but to mystics outside of school as well. Which is why I'm saying that you will need to improve you skills by Monday, and if you don't, I'll be forced to release you and your friends from Starlight."

"..."

"Questions?"

"Who will I he dueling to show my improvement?"

"The same student you lost to yesterday."

"Very well then, I'll start after school today."

"Nope, you'll start right now. I'll be your trainer. Just like before Cobalt."

"But Headmistress-."

"Before Cobalt could finish, Harmony placed a finger on his mouth, "It's Harmony when we're alone. Now let's go, Midnight will look after your class."

"Fine...," Harmony smiled as she snapped her fingers, sending the two somewhere unknown.

Meanwhile, the girls sat in silence as they waited for Cobalt's arrival.

"Where's Cobalt?" Sunset asked as she looked around.

"He was called to the Headmistress Office, but it's way past class time. I have no idea..."

Soon afterwards, Midnight walked through the room, much to the student's surprise, "Good day class, I am Midnight Gleam. Cobalt will be gone for the remainder of the week to do some special training with the Headmistress. In result, I'll be your substitute until he returns.".

"Ms. Gleam, could the reason of hid absence be die to my duel with him yesterday?"

"Partially, but the real reason is because of his losing streak. The duel from yesterday solidified this choice by the Headmistress."

"Losing streak?"

"You see, after his duel with the Commander of the Imperial Army, he went on a losing streak. A very long losing streak. He hasn't won since that duel, and now the Headmistress is planning to train him to have a rematch, with you Lightning."

"Me?"

"Yes, she wants him to have a rematch with you when he's fully trained back to his former self."

Lightning fidgeted in her seat half in fear, and half in remorse, "I never intended for this to happen. In reality, I used to love Cobalt, but after that duel, he just... lost all of his skills. After that, I just grew angry after every match I would bet on him on. Now that I met him in person, I was happy, but I was also... angry that he had changed after just one duel. I wanted to ignite the fire in him, but I guess I just made his situation worse. I didn't know he was on a losing streak though..."

"Prepare yourself for that duel. I have a feeling that the Headmistress will get through to Cobalt."

Cobalt awoke to something he hadn't seen for six years. A blank, dark abyss, "Harmony! Where did you bring me?!"

"To help you through this little simulation I created this special realm."

"Huh, I thought you would have me awake my dark power."

"Nonsense, that wouldn't be practical. I'm going to help you in certain situations that you can't think properly through, like the last push of a duel."

"What's wrong with that?"

"You use Last Stand as your last resort, yet you seem to forget that Last Stand eats away at your body, lowering your hit points quickly. What you need to do is use your other abilities that benefit you."

"But my Last Stand allows me to distribute so much power..."

"Yes, at the cost of nearly killing yourself. When someone tells you to kill yourself, you don't actually do it."

"No memes please..."

"Sorry, but you can't use Last Stand unless you really have to. What you need to do is to use your abilities at the right moments instead of using them so sparingly. You out of the top 5 were born with over 10 secret abilities. You've only used 2 of them during your time here in the mystic realm. You need to use them more, and at the right times."

"How? Most of them are incomplete."

"Which is why I'll be putting in different situations that pertain to that ability," Soon the abyss turned into a wide battle arena."

"We'll go over your most useful abilities only. Your others will be dealt with in due time."

"Alright, what's the first one?"

"The first one will be your ability: Hidden."

Hidden allows me to conceal myself from view. However, it's incomplete. I can only conceal myself from one individual. It's similar to my 6th sense, but in terms of concealing myself.

"I'll place three random bots in front of you. Try your best to use your Hidden ability in the right way."

Cobalt took a deep breath as the three bots dashed towards him.

So if I'm to use Hidden correctly. I can do it like this.

One of the bots stopped, and started to look around. It soon flinched, and was penetrated by the other two bots. Cobalt came from the side, and stabbed all three of them.

"Impressive, I never expected you to use the bots uncontrollable speed to your advantage. You prevented yourself from being seen by one of them, throwing them into a state of confusion. Then you jumped up to cause them to collide with each other."

"It was the only way. You have to think outside the box when you have an incomplete ability."

"I see, on to the next ability..."

-1 week later-

Everyone waited once again for the duel to begin. Lightning waited on the field, but saw no one. She waited eagerly for her opponent, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Cobalt, he should be here by now. Every time he comes home, he would head straight to bed. We haven't even been able to talk to him...," Rarity said with look of worry on her face.

"Don't worry," They turned towards the voice, surprised to see the Headmistress, Harmony, "He'll be here soon. He's just mentally preparing himself for the battle."

"Headmistress..."

"I look forward to seeing Cobalt's new fighting style..."

Soon after Harmony said this, Cobalt rose from the ground. His former face of a laid back fighter was now a look of a serious individual. Cobalt didn't speak a word either. He just spawned in his sword, and got ready. Lightning, surprised at this sudden change in behavior still got in a battle ready stance.

Midnight appeared again like before, and explained the rules, "The rules are the same as before. I won't bore anyone with the explanation. Fighters, are you ready?" Both nodded as Midnight smiled, "Let the battle, begin!"

In nearly a split second, Cobalt appeared behind Lightning as she stood stiff. She soon collapsed as her hit points depleted completely to zero. Cobalt sighed as he moved into the ground again. Leaving the entire student body stunned, and speechless.

"What just happened?" Sunset as she continued staring at Lightning as Midnight went to check on her body.

"That... is the real Cobalt," Harmony smiled as she stood up from her seat, "Everyone to class! Nothing to see here!"

Everyone except Cobalt's friends left. They still sat shocked at what they had just witnessed.

"Cobalt..."

"Just..."

"Destroyed her!" Rainbow finished as she smiled greatly, causing the others to look at her, "Sorry..."

"Cobalt darling..."