The Hidden Student

Chapters

The Hidden Student Part 1.
The Hidden Student Part 2.
The Hidden Student Part 3.
The Hidden Student Part 4.
The Hidden Student Part 5.
The Hidden Student Part 6. Rise of the Dark Pony.
The Hidden Student Part 7. Rise of the Dark Pony.
The Hidden Student Part 8. Rise of the Dark Pony.
The Hidden Student Part 9. Ending.

The Hidden Student Part 1.

The sun rose up in Ponyville to give it's denizens another day. The birds were chirping happily, the little ponies were playing; it was what one could call a perfect day. Even Twilight was outside today. Even though she was reading a new spellbook she had obtained from Luna.

“Wow Spike!” Twilight flipped through the pages of a spell book she had recently acquired. The book was mostly black in color with bits of white sprinkled on it and a giant crescent moon on the front. There was no wording on it though. “All of these spells are amazing!”

“Can any of them make gemstones for me?” Spike replied, looking a little annoyed. He hadn’t DONE anything all day! Sure it was beautiful out, but Twilight still knew how to keep it dull.

“Well…no,” Twilight admitted. “but there’s one to change others! Hold still Spike!” Twilight grinned and stood up on all four hooves, her horn glowing and soon shooting a brightly colored purple ray right at Spike.
A purple cloud quickly surrounded him and dissipated to reveal…Spike. He hadn’t changed a bit. Though his cheeks were full and he was trying to hold something back in his mouth before releasing a loud flaming burp. The flames formed a letter that fell in Twilight’s hooves.

“Not what I was after.” Twilight sighed and opened up the note that came from Spike's mouth. “It’s a letter from…not princess Celestia?” she raised an eyebrow and lowered another as she stared at it.

“What’s it say!?” Spike eagerly replied trying to get at Twilight’s height to see even one word.

“Spike,” Twilight looked down at him. “get Rarity and Fluttershy. I’m going to get Pinkie, AJ, and Rainbow. We all need to go to Canterlot- right away.”

It was a quick gathering and a quick travel, Twilight and Spike didn’t even bother explaining anything as they simply gathered up the ponies and stated they needed to go to Celestia’s castle. Sure, Pinkie never stopped bugging Twilight about it, but Twilight couldn’t explain the letter. She had to see it for herself to believe what she had read.

Once they arrived to Canterlot by train, the ponies rushed to Celestia’s castle. Twilight had explained to them on the train that they hadn't had time to admire any sort of beauty in the town. The message she had was an important one, and she didn't have the time to describe it, even if her friends were getting impatient.

“You still haven’t told us WHY we’re doing this!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over the group of ponies, only flying down some to say what she had to say.

“Yeah." Applejack agreed. “we’re friends and all, we trust your judgment completely, but we still want to know what in tarnation is going on!”

“It’s the princess,” Twilight finally admitted. “She’s…” she shook her head. “We’re almost there anyways.”

Bursting through door by door upon reaching the castle, Twilight and the others quickly ran into Celestia’s chambers to find…princess Luna standing by Celestia’s throne as well as two guards dressed in gold. On the throne laid…nothing but a piece of paper. “Where is she?” Twilight asked, not even bothering with introductions.

“Gone.” Luna replied, shaking her head. “We have guards searching all over Canterlot and the outskirts for her.”
“Wait! The princess is…” Rainbow Dash started- and the ponies said in unison “Gone?!”

“Yup.” One of the guards said, plain and simple.

“Hold on...isn’t it your jobs to watch over the princess constantly?!” Twilight glared at the guards before the throne.

“Yup.” The same guard stated, not giving much in terms of conversation.

“Ahem…” the other started. “We do. However…we were unable to for a short period of time.”

“What do you mean by that?” Applejack asked.

“You see, the princess asked that we leave her chambers due to a special visitor, a student that was supposed to arrive. We didn’t see any student come in, but all we do know is that when we checked the chambers after giving her quite a bit of time alone, she was missing.”

“Oh! Detective Pinkie is on the case! Where are the clues?!” Pinkie jumped up and down eagerly, putting on a Sherlock Holmes hat on her head from seemingly nowhere.

“None.” One guard said.

“Besides the note.” The other guard added.

“Let me see that.” Twilight used her magic to surround the note in a purple glow, pulling it in front of her where she could read it.
“Dear citizen of Equestria, while I am sure your princess has various matters to attend to; I’m afraid to inform you that she has a promise to fulfill elsewhere and cannot perform her duties until she keeps her promise. I assure you that she is unharmed and will return- however I can not say when that day comes.”

“What does THAT mean?” Applejack asked, confused by the various words.

“She’s been…ponynapped. And there’s no name here- just a hoofprint.”

“A hoofprint!” Pinkie Pie suddenly snatched the note from Twilight and pulled out an extremely large book, again from seemingly nowhere, and opened it up. “I have all the hoofprints of all my friends! I’ll compare them and we’ll see who wrote the note! No…no…no…Oh I like that one! But no.”

“Pinkie, that will take FOREVER!” Rarity cut in. “Surely there’s another way.” Rarity wasn't the patient type. She also had her suspicions that Twilight wasn't either in such a special case.

“Wait, didn’t you two say a student visited her last?” Twilight looked over at the guards.

“Yup.” Both guards replied in unison. “But we never saw them.” one added.

“They may have entered with magic.” Luna replied. “Teleportation- something even YOU know Twilight.”

“I suppose.” Twilight nodded. “Alright, I’m going to need a directory of every student that Celestia has.”

“Why on…would you want that?” Applejack asked, watching the guards race off together.

“Well, we know a student visited her last, and we have a hoofprint.”

“No…no…oh!...no.” Pinkie mumbled, reading through her list of hoofprints.

“So?” Applejack replied.

“So…if we get a list of students and know where they live, we can visit them all.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Even if we DID know where ALL of her students live, even with MY speed, it would take a LONG time.”

“We’ll keep our search in, and nearby, Canterlot. Surely if they used magic, they couldn’t be far. I mean, not even the most skilled pony can teleport such a great distance. Plus, we’ll split the job.”

Just as Twilight finished talking, the guards returned with a large book that they set down on the floor.

“Ah, good timing.” Twilight opened up the book. “Every students name, and address in here. Applejack, you take A-D. Rarity, you take E-H. Rainbow Dash, you take I-L. Fluttershy, M-P. I’ll take Q-T. Spike, U-X. And Pinkie…” she glanced at Pinkie still seeing her read hoofprints. “When you’re done with that, take Y-Z. Meet with them and make sure to get their hoofprints. We’ll meet back here when we’re done!”

Twilight started writing the addresses and names down on separate sheets of paper to give to the ponies and handed them off when she was done. “Ready girls?”

The ponies nodded and, even Pinkie, went up to the group as the formed a circle, putting their hooves in with spike’s claw at the top. “Let’s do it!” they shouted together, taking their papers and rushing off, with Fluttershy walking slowly behind the rest of them.

The Hidden Student Part 2.

The mane six ponies spent their morning knocking on various doors within Canterlot as well as in parts of the outskirts of it, taking their time to see the students of Celestia that lived outside the castle. Each pony carried a saddle bag full of the names for each pony and, one by one, visited all they could.

For the most part, the students the ponies met were quite friendly and obliged to give their hoof print- except for a few of Rainbow Dashes due to how she sounded a bit more demanding compared to the rest of the group, driving some of the more shy students back a bit.

When each pony had finished, Pinkie Pie took all of the hoofprint marks they had and compared them with Twilights help. Twilight was quite aware Pinkie Pie was more than likely able to miss some details they could have pointed out.
“No…no…not even close.” Twilight said with a sigh as she used her horn’s magic to hold the note next to other prints. It took an extremely large amount of time but Twilight soon finished. “I can’t believe it!” She exclaimed. “How could NONE of the hoofprints match!? Based on the evidence, the note must have been written by a student! It was the last person that must have seen her!”

“Um…Twilight…” Fluttershy said meekly, looking away from her.

Twilight was beginning to pace, completely oblivious to Fluttershy. “She was expecting a student too…and NONE of the students know ANYTHING about what happened to her?!”

“All of mine said they didn’t even SEE her today.” Rainbow Dash gave a frustrated sigh.

“Same here Twilight,” Applejack added. “and it’s darn easy to tell when someone’s lying in front of me.”

“Twilight.” Fluttershy said again, a little louder this time and facing the purple pony.

“Not even a bit of information from any student?!” Twilight gave a frustrated sigh with Rainbow Dash.

“TWILIGHT!!!” Fluttershy shouted at the top of her lungs and caused the guards to fall on their back in shock.

Twilight even jumped back from the pegasus. “Gosh Fluttershy,” her eyes were now wide open and staring at the pony. “you don’t have to yell. What is it?”

“I couldn’t…I mean…I didn’t…oh…I couldn’t find all the students.”

“You what?” Twilight asked, leaning her head forward to Fluttershy.

“Well…um…you see…I couldn’t find one.”

“Which one couldn’t you find? I mean, their addresses and names are all detailed and I gave you all the information in the book.”

“The book barely HAD any information.” Fluttershy reached in a bag on her saddle and pulled out a slip of paper which Twilight hastily took from her and looked over.

“Name: Mystery. Age…confidential…confidential…confidential…someone who lives up to their name, that’s for sure,” Twilight said rolling her eyes. “how did I not see this when writing them down? Must have been an oversight.”

“See?” Fluttershy said in her hushed tone again. “I mean….I even asked students and not even they knew where that pony lived.”

Princess Luna came in through the set of double doors with her eyes wide and wings spread. “What mystery? I heard some yelling and had to see what was going on…what’s this about?”

“We’re trying to find all of Celestia’s students, we went to every pony that lived near here except-” Twilight started.

“Except FLUTTERSHY missed this one named Mystery.” Rainbow Dash cut in.

“Mystery…Mystery…I know that name.” Luna said quietly. “From the Galloping Gala.”

“Do you know anything to help us?” Twilight asked.

“I must admit, Celestia did mention him to me a few times, and he wanted to visit her during the Gala last year, for what I don’t know.” Luna tried to recall the events of that night. “Celestia had a…urgent matter to attend to during the Gala, so I took over greeting the ponies in her place. It sent quite a few ponies running for the door obviously. One though, wasn’t afraid at all. He was a unicorn too. He had a black mane that was a bit short and cut, and was gray all over. There was one feature though, that stuck out the most and…” she paused briefly. “anyways, he greeted me and wanted to see Celestia, but she couldn’t come. We agreed that he could stay by my side until Celestia returned.”

“A unicorn? Oh he sounds gorgeous though.” Rarity said with her eyes twinkling at the sight of a masculine pony, a long horn and mane overflowing like a river over earth. The pony carrying her away in the night.

“Why didn’t any of you see him at the Gala then? Surely you would have seen him with Luna.” Spike suddenly asked

“We had…complications.” Twilight said blushing lightly as she recalled the incident. “Don’t you remember? We left it early.” she remembered the night all to well, including her friends mentioning their previous failures as well as Fluttershy's...overreacting.

“I was wondering why I didn’t see any of you.” Luna shrugged. “he seemed to be a quiet type, barely said a word to any other pony but myself. He stayed with me until the end of the Gala- and I offered to help him home, but he declined and left himself.”

“Did he say where he lived?” Twilight asked. Wanting to see Celestia at the Gala could only have meant he would have wanted to at another time, and this might have just been the time!

“The Isolated Forest.” Luna replied. “It’s a small forest a little bit away from the castle and not far from a mountain.”

“A forest?” Fluttershy didn’t know how to react to it. Part of her told herself of all the wonderful animals, but the other half told her it was an unfamiliar forest, filled with who knew what.

“We’ll all go together.” Twilight said boldly. “He MUST know something about Celestia.”

Luna’s horn started glowing faintly. “Before you do,” Suddenly a hidden door opened to reveal the elements of harmony jewelery, placed neatly on a pink pillow just on top of a gold pedestal. “I don’t know if you’ll need them or not, but take them just in case.”

The ponies nodded and put on the accessories one by one, Twilight looked back at them happily. “Alright, let’s go find this pony!”

The Hidden Student Part 3.

Twilight and the rest of the group went outside Canterlot onto the plains, making their way to the forest- the only forest nearby the city. It was a well rounded, nearby there was nothing but green pastures up until the dense thickness of trees to signal that the forest had started.

“Oh I can’t wait to see him…he must be so dashing.” Rarity suddenly said with a happy smile and trot.

“He’s not so dashing!” Pinkie Pie bounced around higher than any of the ponies even measured in height. “He’s Mystery!”

“He’s A mystery,” Twilight commented. “I just hope he knows something about Celestia.”

“I’m sure he will.” Applejack joined in, putting a hoof around Twilight. “He’s the only student that lives near Canterlot that we haven’t checked.”

“Sorry…” Fluttershy said quietly, behind the group. “There was just…nothing on him...I couldn’t learn anything.”

“It’s quite alright sugar cube.” Applejack replied.

“I also can’t believe that I just looked at his profile and didn’t even think about it- I just wrote down what it said word for word. I usually pay such good attention to details! A profile like that I would have checked first, not LAST!”

“Nothing you can do about it now.” Rainbow Dash flew over the group, her belly facing the sky. “Besides, with our luck, this guy has to know something.”

“Well, I guess he can’t be too bad either, if Luna knows him.” Twilight smiled faintly.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement. “Remember when Luna was all like,” she suddenly stretched her face, frowned, and rolled her eyes to the top of her head. “RARGH!” and then her face suddenly returned to normal. “And then we snapped her out of it and she became all nice and friendly! Luna’s been making a ton of friends ever since that!”

“Yeah…” Twilight fell quiet, as did the other ponies.

They approached the first of the isolated forest- large trees standing ten times their height looming over them like an adult scolding a child. Fluttershy gulped and hid behind Twilight, though she was still pressing forward with the ponies as they entered.

“Just remember…giggle…at the ghosties…” Fluttershy tried to remind herself. Luckily for her, the trees didn’t seem to take shape. They were just…trees. What was stranger yet was that there were no animal noises in the forest whatsoever.

“Man, what’s WITH this place? It’s so quiet!” Rainbow Dash was the first to mention it.

“Well, it is the ISOLATED forest.” Twilight replied with a somewhat sarcastic tone.

“Still, you’d think there’d be some sort of…animals around here.” Spike said suddenly, riding on Twilights back. He didn’t have too much to say- what was there to say? He was glad he was about to see another male for once.

Rarity suddenly shivered. “I’m not complaining…all the frogs and bugs…ugh. I don’t want any of that.”

Twilight did think it was strange. It was the first forest she’d ever seen that didn’t have any wildlife in it whatsoever.

“Why would someone even want to live here? It must be very lonely.” Pinkie suddenly said.

“Don’t think too much about it.” Twilight looked back at her and then looked ahead- pausing in her tracks at the sight before her.

A house stood before them, but not just a normal house- this house was huge. It’s outer walls stretched farther than any pony could even see. The paint looked to be very dark brown, almost on the edge of black with gray colored pillars holding up a small roof below the main roof. Windows were placed now and then but not one pony could tell what was beyond the windows. Right in front of them too, was a set of double doors- black in color, and standing as tall as Celestia stood.

“This must be it,” Twilight nodded, making her way to the door. “hard to believe only one pony lives here.”

“Fancy!” Rarity commented. “But…I wouldn’t have chosen the color for this place.”

“It’s certainly something.” Applejack had to admit. “This place is bigger than our barn, and our house put together.”

“Focus girls.” Twilight said in a quiet tone, walking up to the door and knocking on it. A hollow sound could be heard echoing just beyond the door.

Just after a moment, Fluttershy gave a nervous smile. “Well…it doesn’t look like he’s home. Let’s just head back shall we?”

“Oh come on, we got to at least give him a minute…okay time’s up. HEY! ANYBODY HOME?!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Just as Twilight was about to knock again, an unlocking sound was heard from the inside. Soon after the door opened partially and a head stuck out- a head no larger, or much different, from the rest of the ponies, his dark blue eyes only partially open, staring at the one whom had knocked on the door in the first place. The pony’s mane was pitch black with traces of gray, rather flat though but tips sticking out in front of him. His horn was plainly obvious sticking out of his hair.

“Hello.” Twilight said to the pony that simply stuck his head out and nothing more; she tried to force a smile on her face.

The male pony stayed quiet, looking at Twilight with his lips unmoving.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends.” She said again, trying to get him to say something.

The colt’s eyes shot from one pony to the next- his eyes focusing on the jewelry that they all wore, including the tiara on Twilight’s hat. “Speak your business.” He said suddenly, in a rather dull and quiet tone, though his tone was still louder than Fluttershy’s own.

“We’re looking for Princess Celestia- she went missing. We know a student of hers visited her before she was gone and we thought you might know something about that.”

“And other students?” the pony asked.

“We checked EVERY student nearby- nothing. The only one we haven’t checked is YOU.” Rainbow Dash suddenly said.

“It’s true.” Twilight said trying to keep her forced smile. “Is your name Mystery?”

“Yes.” The colt merely replied.

“And were you trying to see Celestia on the night of the Gala?”
“Yes.”

“And…did you end up needing to meet with her again later because you couldn’t?”

“I don’t play 21 questions. Yes I wanted to see Celestia, no I couldn’t see her during the Gala, and yes, I was supposed to see her again.”

Applejack suddenly had to ask. “When?”

“Today.”

Spike was getting impatient. “Did you see her today or not?”

“I did.” The gray pony was hardly saying a word. His line of speaking would have been much like Macintosh's own.

Twilight had to ask, just out of curiosity sake. “Why?”

“That’s NONE of your concern,” Mystery suddenly said, his eyes turning into a leer.

“Hey- don’t talk to Twilight like that!” Rainbow Dash said, leering right back at Mystery.

“It’s a sensitive subject.” Mystery closed his eyes before reopening them in their half gaze.

Twilight sighed “No no…it’s alright. It’s not what we’re here for- we just want to know what happened with you and Celestia, and where she might have gone. She paused. “And if we can have your hoofprint too.” She added.

“My…hoofprint?” Mystery asked, curiously.

“Already on it!” Pinkie pie said, trying to keep herself out of plain sight by crouching down right in front of Mystery’s hooves. She raised one of his hooves, put ink on it, and then put his hoof on a piece of paper, giving the paper to Twilight. “Here! See if it fits!”

Mystery shook his head down at Pinkie, letting her do what she wanted with his hooves, but he didn’t seem happy about it. “Thanks for asking if you could do that.” He mumbled.

Pinkie Pie grinned, unable to detect his sarcasm. “You’re welcome!”

Twilight was already comparing the two prints, Mystery’s, to the note that had been left. “It looks…” she lowered the papers, revealing her head to Mystery. “Like a perfect match.”

Hearing that, Rainbow Dash couldn’t wait. “What did you do with our princess?!” She suddenly lived true to her name and dashed through the door, grabbing Mystery and pinning him to the ground inside his home.

The interior of the home was dark and looked very empty- just past the main entrance was a tall, and wide, staircase leading up, while the rest of the interior that they could see had nothing in it.

Mystery’s full body was revealed too- he had wings! Pitch black wings giving off traces of magic. His wingspan looking to be just as large as Rainbow’s, but still folded neatly by his side. It was Twilight though, that noticed his flanks. On his flanks laid…nothing. No cutie mark whatsoever was visible to her.

“She has an engagement she promised to help out with.” Mystery replied rather calmly.

Twilight had to wonder- was this the student? The hoofprint matched, but Luna said nothing about an Alicorn- much less ones with wings that stuck out like a pair of thumbs compared to the rest of him!

“Hey…” Pinkie walked inside, looking down at Mystery’s rear. “Where’s your cutie mark?”

Suddenly Mystery’s eyes lit on fire as he suddenly forced Rainbow off of him and jumped up on his hooves. “DON’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MY MARK!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, the word ‘mark’ echoing through the hollow halls.

Pinkie seemed oblivious to his tone. “You look as old as us and no cutie mark? Wow! Don’t worry, we-“ Suddenly Pinkie’s mouth had a silver lining on the top and bottom with tiny squares on the sides- a zipper. One that suddenly zipped up on it’s own, preventing Pinkie from saying anything but muffled noises. The magic around her mouth a light gray, certainly not of Twilight's own.

Twilight could tell it was Mystery that made her mouth that way. “Mystery. Tell us where Celestia is, now.”

The ponies, and even spike, surrounded Mystery- each looking at him with leers, ready to defend themselves if need be- even Pinkie who was still talking muffled noises.

Mystery just sighed. “I have no intent on fighting. Stand down.” He mainly looked at Twilight as he spoke. “Celestia is unharmed I assure you, and I will take you to her.”

One by one, the ponies nodded and let Mystery lead them to where their princess was.

The Hidden Student Part 4.

Mystery walked upstairs, leading the ponies- many of them ready to act if he pulled something funny on them. He opened a door up on top of the stairs to reveal a library of books assorted neatly up against walls- hundreds of books, possibly more than what Twilight even had in her home. It was the center of the ‘library’ though that caught the ponies attention. A large purple bubble with dark purple lightning lines on the insides of it- inside the bubble was none other than

Celestia, her horn glowing and her eyes shut as she was trying to work with her magic.

“Princess Celestia!” All of the ponies, and spike, shouted, breaking her concentration to see them.

“Girls!” she said, though not as happy as she could have been. “Mystery, don’t get them involved in this.” She said, looking to the gray pony.

“Predictable,” Mystery mumbled, the doors slamming shut behind the ponies as he walked up next to the bubble Celestia was in and turned to the six. “I knew the elements of harmony would come to you Celestia. Plus, with the element of truth, she would have very well known if I had lied about holding you here.”

“Predict this!” Rainbow Dash shouted and suddenly took off in the air, aiming for a dive at Mystery. Mystery’s horn only glowed for a moment as suddenly Rainbow’s wings took the shape of barbells- a small tiny piece of iron where her wings once were connected with the outside of the wings nothing more than two large balls with ‘100’ on each of them, sending Rainbow Dash to a sudden stop in the air- and crashing down hard on the ground.

“Rainbow Dash!” The other ponies shouted, all of them then looking right at Mystery seeing Rainbow Dash alright, but struggling to get up.

Of course, Pinkie couldn’t say anything, but her muffled voice made it obvious she was worried over her friends.

Twilight had to calm herself down though and worked her own magic, fixing Rainbow’s wings, and eventually Pinkies lips- turning them back to normal.

“OhmygoshthanksTwilightIcouldntbelievethispony-“ and then the zipper came right back on Pinkie’s mouth with a purple glow instead of a gray. Twilight simply whistled innocently.

“Honestly.” Mystery rolled his eyes with a sigh. “You need to expect some high profiled ponies to come.” He turned to Celestia, then back at the ponies again, mostly looking at Twilight. “Still, as it says in the note, Celestia has a promise to keep, and she’s not leaving until that happens. I advise you all to leave.”

“Not without our princess!” Twilight suddenly shot a beam of magic to hit the bubble Celestia was in, suddenly her beam vanished and a purple bolt shot out and struck her- sending her up in the air with her hair and mane sticking up on ends, then back down onto the ground, groaning.

“Spell number 1,236.” Mystery said with a shrug. “Luna’s spellbook.”

“Luna’s…I never got around to reading that far.” Twilight obtained her book with a flash of magic and browsed through the spells. “1,236- The magic lock places a ‘lock’ onto the activated spell, unless the proper code is given, the spell doesn’t break and it sends a bolt of lightning out at the one who tried to break it.”

Celestia nodded. “I’ve been trying to break it as much as I can, but it’s simply too complex. I can’t break it alone. It's filled with dark magics that I haven't seen in thousands of years."

“She’ll come out as soon as she helps me.” Mystery said casually.

Twilight looked at Celestia, then at the girls behind her. “Alright Spike…hop down. Girls, it’s time to get serious.” She gave a smirk looking over at Mystery. “If you know the elements of harmony, then you must know their power combined with friendship.”

“mmmhmmmffhmm!” Pinkie said. With a sigh, Twilight let her mouth restore to normal once again. “You said it!” Pinkie said, with her voice free.

Twilight then closed her eyes and her tiara started to glow, along with the various girls necklaces- each of them started floating up and glowing white before Twilight’s eyes opened, completely white. With a flash, two rainbows shot out from on top of them and formed one giant rainbow, moving right to Mystery.

“But…I have an ace up my sleeve.” Mystery suddenly closed his eyes and shot back a beam just as large as the rainbow, a gray colored rainbow looking beam coming directly from his horn, colliding with the rainbow the girls had created. The rainbows clashed and moved back and fourth, fighting with each other. Twilight, with her glowing white eyes, grimaced and tried putting in more magic, but it went no farther than it already had gone. With another flash coming from the two rainbows ends, suddenly they both swirled upwards together, hitting the ceiling and dissipating, the glow from the girls fading, as well as Mystery’s own horn.

Twilight blinked a few times to recover from the ordeal she just did, staring at Mystery with her eyes wide. “The power of friendship…it didn’t…it didn’t do anything?!” she shouted, backing away from him.

“There are things STRONGER than the power of friendship.” Mystery said with a grin on his face, suddenly four metal beams shot out of the ground surrounding the heroes, the beams folded into an arc to attach to each other at the top and a bubble, much like Celestia’s own, surrounded them. “You should know, if you TRULY read the book.”

Twilight was dumbfounded; her ears fell to the side of her head. “N-no…nothing is…”

“Then explain what I just did if you’re so intelligent! Pah- ‘friendship’ strength is nothing compared to the power of family.”

“The power of…family?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Celestia answered for Mystery. “The power of family can be as strong, or stronger, than the power of friendship I’m afraid. You see, he didn’t capture me just for him.”

Mystery cut in. “I captured her for my little brother as well. She’s going to give BOTH of us our marks on our flanks. That was her promise.” There was other reasons behind his purpose for capturing her, much more how he was able to accomplish such a feat in the first place, but he said nothing more.

“I can’t give you the marks Mystery. I said I knew some ponies that could help you out. If you just met me at the Gala-“

“I WAS AT THE GALA!” Mystery shouted at the top of his lungs. “Just ask your sister! YOU never showed up! YOU never came to help me! And now, YOU are going to give me and my brother our marks, I don’t care if you say you can’t, I guess that just means you’re going to be trapped here with your ‘elements of harmony’ UNTIL I GET IT!”

The rest of the ponies, along with Twilight, were looking downright depressed. The power of friendship was useless against Mystery’s plan- what COULD they do against it? Each of them felt helpless.

Spike though, was trying to cheer Twilight up. “Come on Twilight…you can beat him!”

“No Spike…” Twilight shook her head. “The power of friendship is the strongest spell I have. If he can beat that…then…I can’t do anything.”

The Hidden Student Part 5.

The ponies, along with Celestia and Spike, were trapped in Mystery’s magical bubbles, many of the ponies were frustrated- what could they do?

Pinkie, on the other hand, was trying to cheer the ponies up. “Come on everypony! There has to be something we can do!”

“HOW can you be happy at a time like this?!” Rarity shouted to Pinkie. “We’re trapped in here with an alicorn that doesn’t look at ALL appealing!”

“I look at the bright side of things gloomy gloomer gloomah!” Pinkie Pie said, the only one with a smile out of the entire group.

“What’s the bright side to this?” Twilight had to ask.

“Um…” Pinkie raised a hoof to just below her face, her eyes looking upwards. “Uh…I don’t know! But I’ll think of something!” And with that, she went back to bouncing around what little room she had.

“Mystery, you can’t keep us in here forever.” Celestia said, speaking up again. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you at the Gala, but this is certainly going too far to get my help! Especially since I said I can’t do anything alone to get you your mark. The power of the mark is stronger than any magic around, even mine and Luna’s combined!”

“You don’t understand it. I asked for help countless times.” Mystery turned away from the group, keeping them from looking in his eyes that were beginning to water. “Ever since I first attended your school when I was so young- my parents didn’t know what to do with me. What could they do? They were both earth ponies. No one was able to help me with anything I needed.”

“You didn’t need help with your studies.” Celestia said quietly. “You were getting very good grades, one of my best students.” She paused, knowing Twilight could very well hear her. “Not better than Twilight of course.” She gave a nervous chuckle.

“Both of your parents were earth ponies? How does that even work?” Rainbow Dash said, but paused remembering another situation with two earth ponies having a pegasus child and a unicorn one. “Okay…maybe one or the other with wings and a horn…but both?”

“His family history contains nothing but earth ponies,” Celestia said. "The wings are...unnatural. The magic emitting from them is...familiar- but he's no Alicorn. The horn though, is still nothing short of a mystery."

“It’s how I got my name.” Mystery said quietly. “They wanted what’s best for me and sent me to Celestia’s school- without taking care of me. I fended for myself. Sure, I had friends, until THEY started getting their mark.” He looked back at his flank for a moment before shooting his head away. “One by one…they got their marks. ‘You’re just slower than the rest; all it means you might have greater potential than all of them.’ Celestia tells me, but it didn’t help the fact I lost every single friend I had. There’s only one person in the whole world I even bother to watch out for now- my brother. I invited him to come today too.”

“He won’t like it.” Princess Celestia stated. “Who would want to see their princess captured like this?!”

Mystery turned back to them, his tears gone and instead a wicked smile on his face. “Oh believe me, I’m heartbroken about it.” He said with a mock in his tone. “But, you can help me indefinitely with all of my problems.”

Suddenly there was a knock at the front door. “That must be him now.” His horn glowed lightly and the door to the room they were all in opened. “I’ll be right back.” He walked up to the door and turned around. “Please, don’t go anywhere.” And with that, the door slammed shut.

“Come on Twilight,” Spike said, shaking the pony- whom was lying on the ground with a forlorn face. “now’s our chance to break out of here!”

“I can’t, Spike,” Twilight said with a sigh. “The power of friendship…it’s no use. Not even my magic can break this bubble.” Normally, a pony's magic wouldn't have surpassed Twilight's. There was something about the metal archs though that strengthened the shield just enough to hold her back from breaking it.

“I’m sure we can think of something.” Applejack said, looking down at Twilight. “I know things look bleak, to be honest not even I know what to do, but if we all put our heads together, we’ll think up of something!”

Celestia looked at the door. “Perhaps…Mystery’s brother will have a better sense of reasoning. We can’t get through Mystery’s thick skull, but what about Mystic’s?”

“It’s worth a try!” Applejack said with a nod, then looked at Twilight. “You hear that?”

“I…suppose…” Twilight looked to the ground for a moment before she stood up and looked over at the rest of the group. “If Mystic doesn’t approve of what Mystery is doing, it means he can no longer keep us hostage on the grounds that he’s doing it for family. If that happens, the power of friendship should easily set us free!”

“We can only hope…” Fluttershy said quietly. “How do we make Mystic not approve of it?”

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Aside from pointing out that our princess is captured?!”

“That’s probably as obvious as it gets to not like it.” Twilight said with a reply. “As long as we also clearly show that we don’t like it…as well as her…” she looked at Pinkie Pie. “Though um…can you NOT be happy when they come back?”

Pinkie Pie nodded, suddenly faking a frown, though every pony could tell it was fake based on how her eyes still looked like they had that same grin- her eyes happy and her mouth sad.

“Pinkie,” Rarity suddenly said. “Pretend you’re carrying a giant birthday cake! The cake is for your best friends, but suddenly you trip and fall and ruin the cake!”

Pinkie smiled again and nodded, thinking about it before suddenly teardrops came from her eyes and she started bawling. “Why cake, why?! I loveded you cake! I loveded you!!!” she hit the ground with her hooves smacking up against it.

“A little overly dramatic, but perfect otherwise.” Twilight said with a small giggle. “Now we just wait.”

Soon enough, the door opened to reveal two ponies. One was Mystery, a big smile on his face. The other was a smaller pony. It resembled Mystery with a grayish hide color and black hair, but this one’s black hair was much smoother and defined- a circular tip at the front with a large J shaped mane at the bottom, quite fluffed up. It looked to be roughly the age of Applebloom, not very tall. Unlike Mystery, he didn’t have a horn, or wings. However, like Mystery, he had no mark on his flank- for his age though it seemed more appropriate. His eyes were closed and he just smiled too. “Alright Mystery, what’s this big surprise?” he said with a high pitched voice.

“Open your eyes and take a look.” Mystery responded casually.

Just like that, his brown colored eyes opened to see the sight before him- Twilight and the group, with Celestia, in the room in their bubbles. “Princess Celestia!” he said excitedly. Though, he paused hearing Pinkie Pie’s crying. “Mystery,” Mystic, the younger pony, turned up to the larger gray one. “What’s Celestia doing here? And those other ponies?” he glanced at the group seeing Pinkie Pie crying, though he didn’t quite understand why- something about ‘cake’?

“Celestia is going to help us.” Mystery said calmly. “She’s going to give us our marks on our flanks.”

“But…that’s not how it works,” Mystic said, confused. “I thought you got one when you were good and ready- not given to you by Celestia.”

“That’s right Mystic,” Princess Celestia said, nodding towards him. “Your brother believes that keeping me here will help you two get your marks.”

“And he captured us too when we tried to save her!” Rainbow Dash shouted out.

“He’s QUITE crazy.” Rarity added.

Applejack nodded. “Don’t agree with you often Rarity, but yeah he’s got a barrel of chipmunks in his head, doesn’t make sense.”

“My cake!!!!” Pinkie Pie shouted still, upset about what she had imagined.

“You have to help us!” Spike called out.

Fluttershy added, quietly. “Please…if you can…”

Lastly, Twilight spoke up. “Talk some sense into your brother, Mystic.”

Mystic turned to Mystery again, and then he glanced back at the other ponies. “Mystery…is what they’re saying true?”

Mystery shrugged “Well…Celestia never made time for me. I knew that, in order for her to help us, to help you, get your mark, I would need to do something. This may have been drastic, but you can’t complain with the results.”

Mystic was quiet for a moment, contemplating. Looking between all of the ponies with their saddened eyes, even Celestia who seemed to utter ‘please’ to him. Then he looked back at Mystery. “Did you…did you even THINK this through Mystery?”

“What do you mean?” Mystery replied. “I know the elements of harmony would come for her, I was prepared for that. Anyone else that wants to see if I have her, I’ll just lie and say that I don’t know anything.”

Mystic suddenly started marching towards Mystery. “But you DO know! You shouldn’t be lying so much! Especially about something like this! Other ponies are going to try to find her and eventually they’re GOING to find out you captured her! Are you going to capture them too, like you did those ponies?!”

Mystery stepped back at the speed Mystic was marching towards him, getting forced into the room and away from the other ponies. “Well…if I have to…but she’ll only be there until we get our marks…”

“She can’t give them to us!” Mystic shouted. “You know that! You’re just in denial about the whole thing! She’ll be here forever at the rate you’re getting your mark! You know why you never got your mark?! You’re so obsessed with studying and practicing magic and working out, isolated from everyone, that you’re forgetting what’s more important! Friends and family! Family that would be more than happy to help you get your mark if you just asked us like I asked you!” he froze in his steps. “And this is NOT how I wanted to be helped!”

Mystery kept stepping back, even after Mystic paused in his steps. He bumped up against a bookcase and a few books tumbled down. “But I…you…” Mystery didn’t know what to say at how his brother lashed out at him. Was he right? He couldn’t deny what he had said. He had prepared for what might have happened if he kept Celestia locked up like this, but not how his brother would be like.

“No excuses!” Mystic shouted. “You’re going to set them free, now!”

Mystery’s eyes began to form tears again as he glanced at Celestia, then at Mystic. He slammed his eyes shut and lowered his head to the floor. His wings started to glow brightly and a smoke started forming out of the ground beneath him, beginning to surround him. He was struggling to hold back his tears, to hold back what he might say back at his little brother.

Celestia’s eyes went wide as she watched what was happening with the gray pony. “Mystery! Control your emotions!” she shouted.

Mystery shook his head in frustration. “No…he…I…ARGH!” the smoke surrounded him completely to form a cocoon of blackness, the cocoon swirled around Mystery faster and faster, shrinking into him, causing a bright light to shoot out from Mystery and make him cast nothing but a black shadow- forcing the ponies to avert their eyes from the brightness he emitted.

As the brightness faded, what stood in Mystery’s place was not the gray pony. What stood in his place, was a pitch black pony with glowing white eyes. It didn’t have a mane, but it’s back, as well as it’s eyes, lit up trails of smoke that danced up off of it’s back. It had no visible features aside from the horn and wings, both as black as coal. It’s face, seemingly nonexistent except for the eyes.

Mystic blinked a few times to recover his eyesight. “Mystery?” He asked, looking at the creature that stood before him.

The creature looked down at Mystic and it’s eyes glowed red as a shadow tentacle lashed out from it’s wings, whipping Mystic with such force that it slammed the pony up against the wall.

The other ponies that watched, gasped at the sight. “How dare you! Let me out of here!” Fluttershy shouted, ramming the magical barrier that sent a shock through her- sending her crashing to the ground and groaning.

The pony whipped it’s head to Fluttershy as fast as the speed of light. Suddenly it sunk down- forming a perfect shadow on the ground and looking nothing more like it- moving at a speed quicker than Rainbow Dash would have been able to keep up through the closed doors, seeping through the cracks beneath it.

Twilight watched in horror. “What…what was that?” she asked, speechless.

“It’s…a dark pony.” Celestia said, closing her eyes. “Mystery became filled with emotions of darkness, emotions of hatred, despair, sorrow, regret, he kept it all within him until he could no longer contain it and turned into that.” Celestia took a deep breath. “Elements, we may be able to free ourselves from this prison now, but I’m afraid we have a much deeper problem now- one that may destroy Equestria if we do not solve it.”

The Hidden Student Part 6. Rise of the Dark Pony.

Mystic was on the floor, having fainted from what just happened with Mystery lashing out on him. Meanwhile the other ponies, including Spike and Celestia, were still trapped in their prison bubbles. “Twilight,” Celestia spoke up, “The elements of harmony- use them. They should work and get us out of here now.”

Twilight was still baffled by what just happened. “Alright, but you owe us an explanation about this…dark pony thing.”
She said closing her eyes. The other ponies necklaces glowed lightly, as did Twilights tiara. A white beam of light shot out of her glowing horn to the top of the magical prison and formed an arch to attach right to Celestia’s own prison. Then there was the sound of a small ‘click’ as the four beams that had attached to each other on top started to fall back into the ground, ripping open the top of the magical prison and shedding it as it went to the ground. The ponies grinned and cheered as they were freed, except for Pinkie who had been crying about the cake the whole time.

“And then you made another cake and it was just fine!” Rainbow Dash shouted to her.

“YAY!” Pinkie jumped up in the air with delight, pausing in the air. “Wait- what flavor?”

“Strawberry.”

“YAY!” Pinkie resumed her jump and then proceeded to land…right on top of Rainbow Dash- pinning her to the ground as Pinkie looked over at the now freed Celestia. “What’s a dark pony anyways?”

“First, let’s go back to the castle.” Celestia said urgently. “I don’t think any of us want to stay around here any longer.” She looked over at Mystic and walked over to him, using her magic to cause the fainted colt to float in the air and land on her back gently. “Stay close girls, I’m going to use my magic to teleport us back.”

“You can teleport THAT far?” Twilight asked, astounded.

“I think I can teleport to my own castle.” Celestia replied with a small smile. Pinkie jumped off of Rainbow Dash and ran over to Celestia happily. Rainbow Dash stood up with a frown and shook her body. “Gah.” She grumbled before following Pinkie. Soon all the ponies were gathered around Celestia. Celestia’s horn glowed and suddenly the group vanished in a cloud of smoke.

The group reappeared in the same cloud of smoke in Celestia’s chambers, on a small platform not far from the throne. Luna, as well as the guards whom had stayed with her the whole time, all rushed over to Celestia and the group that came with her. “Sister!” Luna said happily. “Are you alright?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes.” She looked down at Mystic, then to a guard. “Take this colt to the infirmary.”

“Yes princess.” One guard replied and took Mystic, rushing off.

“That was…” Luna looked at the pony that the guard took briefly, before looking back at Celestia. “wasn’t it?”

Celestia shook her head. “It was his brother. I’m afraid Mystery himself has let his emotions take control and turned into a dark pony.”

Luna was quiet for a moment. She looked up at a window with fragments that appeared as if it once had a mural, but had been wiped clean.

“I thought YOU had them under control.” Luna suddenly said angrily.

“I didn’t think it would spiral out of control like that.” Celestia said quietly.

“Princess Celestia…you still have not told us what a dark pony even IS.” Twilight commented. “I never read anything about it in any of my books.”

“Because all evidence about them had to be destroyed.” Celestia replied with a sigh, moving off of the platform and to the center of the throne room. “There are two ways one changes into one. First, one that is has dark magics infused into them and letting their emotions get the best of them. Mystery's wings- the magic emitting from them...they were filled with dark energy. I don't know how he got those wings, but however he did, it's unnatural- he wasn't born with them. He gave something up for them.”

“And the other way for a dark pony to be made?” Applejack asked, curious.

“By having another dark pony draining your very essence from your body. You and your body split- your body becoming nothing but pure stone as your essence becomes that of a dark pony, only doing the bidding of the one that changed you.”

“You…destroyed all evidence of them?” Twilight commented. “Why?”

“I teach ponies to be nice to each other and never mean or try to dabble in dark magics. Mystery, though…he…” she shook her head. “In any case, if each pony is nice to each other and doesn't dabble into the dark magic, their negative emotions are rarely a problem- especially ones extreme enough to cause a change. We never kept records of it because we don’t want ponies to be worried about it.”

“Keeping it quiet for our ‘feelings’?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Seems pretty important to at least mention to your students.”

“Worrying about it causes negative emotion. Negative emotions can cause one to view the magics untaught, which can be very dangerous” Luna cut in. “If there is a dark pony though, it is even worse. Alone, they are very stealthy until they increase their numbers, then attack in full force.”

“You don’t think…” Twilight started.

“Yes.” Celestia replied. “I believe Mystery is in Canterlot at this very moment, turning others into dark ponies for a full scale invasion on all of Equestria. We must ask you girls to stop him.”

Twilight had to ask. “What about you two?”

“We’re going to make sure Canterlot is surrounded by a magical forcefield.” Luna replied. “A stronger one than what we already have, if any dark ponies try to escape, we’ll be able to catch them.”

“We’re as vulnerable to the rest of you girls to becoming a dark pony.” Celestia added. “Mystery would search for us first and use our magics against you, it would be too dangerous to have us directly look for him.”

“You can count on us.” Applejack said with a nod.

“Good…he should be vulnerable to the power of friendship now- you just need to get him into a position to use it.”

“Got it.” Twilight turned to the girls. “Spike, I want you to watch Mystic in the infirmary.”

“What? I want to come with you!” Spike replied.

“Someone needs to watch him.” Twilight replied. “Don’t worry about us; we have each others backs.”

Spike hesitantly jumped off of Twilight’s back and walked to the door. “Okay…be careful out there.” He said and left the throne room.

“As for the rest of us…” Twilight tried to come up with something. “The quickest way to find Mystery is to split up- if you find him, do NOT take him alone, come find the rest of us.”

“Oh! How about a signal! Like a smoke fire!” Pinkie said happily. “Or maybe a loud whistle! Or maybe an ‘I FOUND HIM!’ shout!”

“Just...” Twilight tried to think again. “We’ll all check the city first; it’s big enough to hide easily. Whistle if you find him.”

The ponies rushed out of the door with Twilight behind him. “Wait, Twilight.” Celestia called out to her- causing Twilight to screech to a halt and turn her head.

“Remember, the power of friendship is something that cannot be separated- even if you’re far, far away from your friends, their power is still within you.”

Twilight nodded and ran off with the rest of the ponies.

With the various fillies gone, Luna looked up at Celestia. “Now it’s our turn…”

Celestia nodded. “Yes…together we’ll prevent any dark pony from leaving the city.”

With each pony split up, Fluttershy flew down to a garden, looking around briefly. “H-hello?” she said nervously. It seemed too quiet, but she was glad to be in a more natural surrounding. “Come on Fluttershy.” She told herself. “Do this for Mystic…” she took a deep breath and glanced behind a tree- her breath almost escaped out in a scream but she quickly covered her mouth. The other side of the tree was a pony- a statue of a pony at least. It looked as if it had gardener gloves on it’s hooves with boots and a large hat to cover its eyes- with the cutie mark being that of a tree. It looked so lifelike- almost too lifelike. “This must be…that work…oh my…” Fluttershy’s heart was beating a mile a minute at the sight. A pony changed into a statue from Mystery. “He CAN’T be allowed to keep doing this!” She tried to be brave, but it was an unfamiliar entity she was dealing with- she had a very good reason to be frightened.

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Fluttershy turned and lowered her front half of her body, her wings shot up straight in the air and she was ready to attack what she saw. What she saw though was…a squirrel- a brown squirrel holding an acorn, looking up at her with puppy-dog sad eyes. Fluttershy sighed of relief and stood up normally. “You shouldn’t be here little squirrel, there’s a dangerous creature out there!”

The squirrel continued looking up at Fluttershy, stuffing the acorn it held into its mouth, giving it puffed up cheeks.
Fluttershy giggled and leaned down to it. “Come on; let’s get you to a safe place.”

Suddenly, the squirrel’s eyes turned absolutely white- then dark red with a glare right up at Fluttershy. Fluttershy stepped back and screamed at the top of her lungs- alerting every pony that could hear her.

Twilight, as well as the rest of the group, ran as fast as they could to where they heard Fluttershy. When they got to the garden grass, they noticed two statues- one that looked like the gardener…and Fluttershy. Her pose looked as if she had backed away from something with a frightened look on her face. When Twilight looked down to where Fluttershy had her eyes, there was nothing there. “Oh no…Fluttershy!” Twilight tried to use her magic to return her to normal, but it didn’t affect the Pegasus statue in the least.

“I’m thinking we should stick together now, Twilight.” Applejack said rather worriedly.

Twilight nodded in agreement. “Yes. We need to find Mystery and fix this mess before it’s too late.”

The Hidden Student Part 7. Rise of the Dark Pony.

The ‘mane six’, now only down to five, traveled through the streets of Canterlot together. “Mystery can fix Fluttershy…hopefully.” Twilight said to herself, looking up at the sky seeing a pink colored glow covering it.

“Must be Celestia and Luna’s shield.” Applejack commented.

“Still don’t get why they aren’t going to help us more than THAT.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Don’t get the wrong idea, I still want to get back at that unicorn...alicorn...whatever he is! Especially after what he did to Fluttershy!”

Twilight turned to the group. “They said it earlier- they’re vulnerable as any of us, and if they turned…nothing would stand a chance. They’re better off making it so no dark pony can escape this city.” She paused for a moment as she looked around.

The city was filled with buildings and streets as far as the eye could see outside of the garden, but not a single pony was in sight- except statues of ponies at least, or what USED to be ponies, most of them having a look of fright on their face.

“It’s really creepy when you get a closer look at them.” Rarity said with a shiver as she poked a statue- the statue wobbling in place for a moment. “KNOWING that they used to be real.”

“Tell me about it.” Twilight started up walking with the rest of the group, passing by buildings, petrified ponies, and seemingly nothing else.

Out of the corner of her eye though, Pinkie Pie saw a balloon float up in the air from an alleyway. “Oh! I found something!” she said bouncing happily. She just couldn’t get the feeling of happiness out of her- or maybe she was just trying to express happiness to ‘get rid of the ghosties’ she might say.

“What is it?” Twilight turned to Pinkie.

“A balloon! A big shiny red balloon!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “We aren’t here to search for balloons, Pinkie. We’re searching for Mystery.” While the ponies started to leave, Pinkie stayed behind and ran into the alleyway on her own, eager to see a party.

What she saw in the dark alleyway was, indeed a party. At least what was set up to look like a party. Purple cloth covered tables, perfectly placed presents, a colorful cake painted with rainbow frosting and at least three layers tall! What Pinkie loved most though, was a bouncy house. A small inflatable pink castle that she couldn’t resist but run in and bounce up and down on it- having the time of her life, not even questioning how a party was in the alleyway- or whom it was even for! There weren’t even any petrified statues in the party.

After what seemed like days of bouncing, she finally stopped and ran up to the cake. “If those party poopers don’t want to come to the party, more cake for me!” She said trying to dive her face into the cake. As she moved her face to the cake, the cake moved back, as if on its own, away from her. Pinkie followed it and the cake soon fell over onto the ground with a ‘splat’, spreading the three layers across the ground. Suddenly, from the darkness, a large amount of ants surrounded the cake, taking it for them.

Pinkie laid on the table, watching the cake with tears in her eyes and her mouth in a frown, soon opening it in a crying fashion. “Why cake?! Why!” Pinkie cried out.

“I’ll give you all the cake you’ll ever need.” A voice called out to Pinkie from behind her- the voice sounded familiar, but distorted with a hint of an echo to it.

“Oh?! Where?!” Pinkie didn’t seem concerned as she turned to see who was behind her- it was Mystery in his dark form, his eyes glowing beet red into her own.

Pinkie’s eyes widened seeing the creature. More importantly though, he didn't hold any cake. "How could you lie about cake?!"

Meanwhile, the rest of the group wasn’t far from the ‘party’ where Pinkie was. “Who throws a party in an alleyway anyways?” Rainbow Dash had to ask.

Twilight nodded, but paused in her tracks. “Hey…you don’t think…” she turned around to see Pinkie wasn’t even following the group anymore.

“Pinkie!” The whole group shouted, running back to the alleyway to see Pinkie Pie…and her statue form. She was on her hind hooves, leaned up with what looked like a face combined between fear, and anger. Her eyes were in a leer, but her body was arched back away. Surprisingly, there was not even a single sign of a party around the ponies.

Twilight frowned, trying her magic again, but to no avail. “Pinkie…we’ll get you and Fluttershy back to normal, we promise.” She turned to what ponies were left with her. “We need to think…where would a dark pony be in Canterlot?”

“I don’t know how dark ponies move around, don’t ask me.” Rainbow Dash said defensively. “But he’s already turning so many…into these things, that maybe he’s already trying to storm the castle.”

Twilight nodded. “It’s possible, but he’s clearly pulling off tricks to separate us. We can’t afford to stray from each other- even for a second.”

Applejack agreed. “I hear you Twilight. Together, we’re still stronger than ever to beat this pony!”

Just as Applejack said it- a large gust of wind blew in the ponies direction, blowing Applejacks hat clear off. More importantly though, it was so strong that it even blew Rainbow Dash away- she being far too caught off by the wind to try to fight it.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, using her magic to cause a tentacle to appear from her horn, the tentacle a sparkly purple with the tip sprouting into a hand to try to grab her, but the wind formed a small tornado around her like a shield and carried her off.

“My hat!” Applejack shouted- but then looked up at Rainbow Dash. Clearly, she knew what was more important than her hat. “Nothing…Twilight, you know what to do to get us after Dash!”

The tornado kept Rainbow Dash in it’s grasp, dragging her on for what seemed like miles before releasing her on top of a building in front of the dark pony known as Mystery. “Hello…Dash.” He said, his eyes leering down at the Pegasus. His eyes…retaining the pure white.

Rainbow Dash shot up from the building, lowering her front half and keeping her wings spread. “Mystery. You just made a BIG mistake buddy. You’re going down!”

“Oh…I’m sure I am.” Mystery said half-heartily. “But, let’s make this easy shall we? How about a race? If I win…you’ll be nothing more than paperweight.”

“But what if I win?” Rainbow Dash asked her eyes staring directly into Mystery’s, still ready to fight him.

“Then I’ll release your friends and leave you be.” Mystery’s horn glowed briefly as he turned away, putting a hoof to his chest, then suddenly looking right back at her. “Come on Dash, my sources tell me you can’t turn down a race. I won’t use my magic on you during the race either, you have my promise.”

“A race huh?” Rainbow had to give it some thought for a moment. She thought she could single hoofedly beat this dark pony in something like that and not get the rest of her friends involved in such a risk.

“Just you…and me…” his horn glowed again and a nearby cloud reshaped into a purple colored circle with a large hole in the center. “First one through there…”

The cloud didn’t seem too far away- only about four buildings, half a mile perhaps. “You’re on! But no magic!”

“I may be a thief, a sneak, evil, cruel, merciless, but I am not a liar.” Mystery said calmly. “Now then…” his horn glowed again and a small gold coin appeared in the air, floating up in front of them. “To make this fair, when the coin hits the building, it’s the sign to go.” And with that, his horn stopped glowing and the coin fell down.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes turned to the coin as she watched it. She couldn’t help but grin suddenly. “For you, friends.” She said to herself. When the noise hit her ears of the coin touching the rooftop, Rainbow Dash took off in an amazing burst of speed- leaving only a rainbow trail behind her. Mystery stood still for a moment before following her from behind.
Rainbow clearly had the lead of at least five ponies length. She was giving this ‘race’ her all, and for her friends seemed to encourage her to go even faster. Mystery though, was catching up despite her amazing speed. Down to four ponies length…three…two…the two were soon neck and neck with Mystery leading by a horn. When they got to the building that had the cloud over it, Mystery suddenly came to a screeching halt- giving Rainbow Dash the lead to the cloud.
“Hah! I got it! I got it!” As she passed through the dark cloud, she came out gray colored and stuck with a smile on her face and her wings spread. She fell to the rooftop with a ‘thunk’ as nothing more than a statue, much like the fate of her friends.

Mystery flew above Rainbow Dash with a smile on his pitch black face. “You never let me finish. First one through the cloud…LOSES. I did keep my promise though, didn’t use magic during that race at all.”

Twilight and what remained of the group suddenly floated up above the buildings, being held on a blue colored bubble being maintained by Twilight’s magic, as shown with her glowing horn. The group noticed an odd statue on top of a roof and landed next to it, seeing it was Rainbow Dash- petrified with a smile on her face, her wings spread, and body straight. “Dash…” Applejack said quietly.

“Ugh…this is going TOO far.” Rarity added.

Twilight lowered her head. “Sorry Rainbow.”

The hopes of what remained of the group were beginning to diminish- three of their friends have become nothing more than statues to Mystery, the dark pony’s magic, Mystery seemed to be able to split them apart even when they wanted to stick together.

“The castle…let’s go.” Twilight said quietly.

The Hidden Student Part 8. Rise of the Dark Pony.

Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity traveled their way off of the building to the castle. Along the way it looked as if every pony were made of stone, not one left- even little ones were left little mercy, petrified in their horrified state.

“How could he have done so much, so quickly?” Twilight had to ask, though knowing that no one in their group had that answer.

“I don’t know…” Rarity replied. “But I do know that- OUCH!” she suddenly found herself face to face with a giant mirror that had grown out of the ground- it placed between her and her friends. “Hey! Open up!” Rarity shouted, pounding on the glass.

“Don’t worry Rarity, we’re coming!” AJ called from the other side, attempting to kick and ram at the back piece of the mirror that had shot out of the ground so quickly.

Twilight was just astounded. How was all of this magic being pulled off so quickly, so effortlessly? No pony could work such magics alone. “Who is…who is he working with?” Twilight had to know.

Applejack suddenly shouted. “Twilight! Get your head from out of the clouds and help me break this thing!”

Twilight broke her concentration and nodded. Applejack was right, now was not the time to be wondering about how such things were happening. Now was the time to free Rarity.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the giant mirror, Rarity stepped back and bumped into another growing mirror behind her…then another…soon she was surrounded by mirrors, all reflecting the same horrified pony right back at her. “I know I like to see a pretty pony…but certainly not like this!” she shouted to nobody in particular.
Suddenly, the image of her in each of the mirrors became clouded and hazed- hiding her form. Rarity gasped and glanced in one of the mirrors, to see her form still in the mirror- looking right back at her in the exact same pose. Rarity tried to move back to find that she couldn’t! It was only when the Rarity’s in the mirror, the false Rarity’s, moved back, that Rarity felt forced to move back with him, looking at each other, Rarity with a horrified expression with her eyes wide and her jaw dropped- while the Rarity she was looking had had a wicked grin on her face.
The Rarity in the mirror she looked at suddenly stood on two hooves- forcing Rarity to stand as well. Then, she moved one hoof up in the air and the other down in a slanted way, forcing Rarity to make such an odd pose herself.

“I can’t…move…help!” Rarity shouted.

As she was forced in that pose- suddenly the real Rarity saw her image turning gray from the bottom hooves up- becoming petrified. She glanced down to her own hooves to see that the same thing was happening to her and she screamed loudly as the stone covered her entire body.

By the time Twilight and AJ had finally broken through the mirror, it was too late. Rarity stood on two hooves in an odd pose for a pony, completely made of stone.

“Rarity…” Twilight said quietly.

Suddenly, the mirrors all around shattered- forming little tiny crystals as they fell on AJ and Twilight. The two remaining girls ducked for cover in a toy building which luckily had their doors open. The pair searched frantically and hid behind large stuffed animals that were in the display case- giant ones that measured bigger than them! Then, they turned back to the crystals to watch the shards turn black in color- becoming waterlike and forming together to make a puddle. From the puddle arose a pony pure black in color. This pony though, was not that of Mystery- but had the resemblances of Rarity with her long hair and horn- even her cutie mark was there, but she was entirely pitch black in color- the only way the cutie marks were even partially visible were small white outlines on the diamonds.

Both Twilight and Applejack stared with their eyes wide. Rarity’s stone form stood still, while the black pony, the one that resembled Rarity, poked the statue and just grinned wickedly. From out of sight though, Mystery approached casually and glanced at the pony. Applejack suddenly glared, tempted to pounce and attack- after all it looked like he had done, how could she NOT want to do something about it?! Before she got a chance though,
Twilight held her back with one hoof- as if knowing what AJ was planning. “I know what you want to do- believe me, I want to JUST as much as you, but we need to try to catch him off guard, and alone.”

“Where did the other two go?” Mystery suddenly asked the dark pony that stood before him. The dark pony, the one that resembled Rarity, merely shook her head.

Mystery sighed in frustration. “You know where to go, get to the castle and find Celestia and Luna.”

The other dark pony nodded in response and ran off. Mystery glanced in the direction of Applejack and Twilight briefly; walking up to the toystore the pair had ducked into and looking at the same giant stuffed ponies the pair hid behind.

“Toys…useless.” He muttered to himself before darting off in the same direction the dark Rarity like pony had gone.

Twilight and AJ peeked above the stuffed giant ponies- the ponies that, ironically at least the one AJ hid behind was orange in color with apples on her flank- though the head was very off, and had a sign on it that said ‘CLEARANCE.’

“That was TOO close.” Twilight said with a sigh of relief, seeing the dark ponies had left. “But Rarity…and that thing that looked like her…”

Applejack nodded. “I know Twilight. If I had to guess, I’d say Mystery’s at the castle too, but I don’t think he’s alone.”

“We need Celestia and Luna’s help on this.” Twilight said urgently. “We can’t do this! Not just the two of us!”

“I know that things look dim, Twilight. But we have to try. Those two can keep a shield up for as long as they need to if we don’t succeed- better only all of Canterlot be dark ponies, along with us, than all of Equestria.”

“I suppose.” Twilight nodded. “To the castle then. If we’re going to go down, let’s at LEAST go down with a fight!”

“I’m with you, Twilight!” Applejack said with a small smile- one that went away when she looked up at the big orange pony she hid behind and she just shivered. “Even if that thing were free, I wouldn’t buy it.”

Together, Applejack and Twilight ran to the front of the castle- seeing two statue guards. Just as Twilight was about to go into the entrance, Applejack pulled her behind a building just in time to avoid being seen by a pitch black pony that crossed the entrance of the castle, pausing and it’s clear blank white eyes looking over at the pairs direction for a moment before proceeding along.

After the dark pony was out of sight, the pair went back to going to the castle doors- walking side by side. Luckily, the double doors were open to let them in and it didn’t look guarded in the least. Just as they crossed through the doors- they heard a voice.

“Hi there!” a happy go lucky voice called out. The pair turned around to see…a pretty pink pony with bouncy hair and a balloon cutie mark.

“Pinkie?” Applejack asked, stepping closer to her.

“Applejack, wait!” Twilight shouted- making the orange pony hesitate. “That can’t be Pinkie!”

“Oh don’t be silly nilly willies, it’s me! The one and only!” The pink pony said bouncing up and down happily.

“She sure bouncies like Pinkie, and talks like Pinkie, and is HAPPY like Pinkie…” Applejack stepped closer, while Twilight stayed at a distance. “Come on Applejack, we need to get going. You saw that Pinkie statue!”

“Yeah, but…we never saw…” AJ paused, looking at Pinkie. “If you’re the REAL Pinkie…what did I get you for your birthday?”

The pony paused and raised her head with her eyes, raising a hoof to her chin. “Um…Equestria?” she said, sounding more like she was asking than telling.

“Now what in…no!” AJ replied, jumping back. “You’re not Pinkie!”

Suddenly, the castle doors slammed shut- cutting Twilight and Applejack off from each other. The ‘Pinkie Pie’ grinned with her eyes leering as shadows swirled around her cutie mark, revealing a pitch black Pinkie Pie in its place. “You’re right, you DIDN’T get me Equestria, but you’re GOING to!” the pony suddenly said in a dark tone that echoed in itself as tentacles shot out from its flanks and reached for Applejack.

AJ acted quickly and jumped up- running away from the castle doors, from the tentacles- but she was too slow. The tentacles wrapped around her hooves and lifted her upside down in the air- pulling her right to the dark pony. “Let me go! I’m warning you!” Applejack struggled and, getting an idea, leaned back and bit right on one of the tentacles. The dark pony’s eyes widened and her expression looked taken aback when she suddenly screamed a bloodcurdling scream- dropping Applejack to the ground with a ‘oomph.’

Before AJ had much time to react again though, another dark pony, one that had Rainbow Dash’s resemblances walked up to her- leering down at her with beet red eyes and wrapping it’s own tentacles around her. “Snap out of it dash! No!” Applejack shouted as her eyes formed tears.

Twilight, in the meantime, was banging on the castle doors, trying to use her magic to teleport out, ANYTHING to save her remaining friend, at least until it fell silent outside and the doors opened to show that the dark ponies had long left- leaving a statue Applejack in its place.

“AJ…” Twilight said quietly, a tear dropping down her face. All of her friends had been turned to stone- and if the dark ponies overtook the castle, it meant Spike was next- if he hadn’t already been turned. What could she do? She didn’t have her friends…she didn’t have Celestia and Luna, she felt alone. After a brief moment, she did the only thing she could do…she went farther into the castle on her own. “I’m not going to give up…I can’t give up on my friends.”

The Hidden Student Part 9. Ending.

Twilight was the last remaining pony out of the six that started. Each and every other pony she had as a friend, completely turned to stone- only leaving pitch black ponies that were clearly cruel in Twilights eyes.

In the castle alone, Twilight had to check the infirmary and, sure enough, she saw the frozen spike and Mystic, kept in stone. “It even affects dragons…” Twilight said quietly, shaking her head. This had gone on for long enough! But, what could she do alone?

“I have to try…” she ran up out of the infirmary and made her way to the throne room. Just outside the throne room stood a long hallway and she froze midstep. Dark ponies…hundreds of dark ponies right in the hallway, all with their blank slate eyes looking right over at Twilight.

None of them spoke a word though as they amazingly stepped aside to clear a path for her right to the throne. “W-what…?” Twilight said, amazed what was going on. She was expected to have to defend herself from all of these dark ponies of all sorts! Instead, they were just letting her by?

She took advantage of their ‘hospitality’ and continued to go to the throne, passing by rows and rows of dark ponies. She looked up in the air to see a dark version of Rainbow Dash, living up to her name and dashing about in the air but still staring at Twilight, just like the rest of the ponies. As she got closer, she noticed the dark Fluttershy pony standing next to the Applejack one- still without her hat. Twilight didn’t bother talking to any of the dark ponies that resembled her friends- what was the point? They clearly weren’t her allies.

As she stepped into the throne room, the door slammed shut behind her and she saw Mystery standing at the throne. “Twilight…” the dark pony said with a hiss. “The element…of magic.”

Twilight gulped, but soon after her eyes leered at Mystery and she crouched slightly. “You know me…you know us…to well…how?”

“I had a little…help.” He replied with a chuckle as a pitch black baby dragon appeared from behind Mystery- one that resembled Spike- his eyes pure white except for black slits that looked as if they pierced right through Twilight. “It’s funny…I didn’t want to get the whole city involved, at least without having Luna and Celestia, so this was the first place I came to.”

“You’d attack the Princesses head on?” Twilight asked. “Your overconfidence is your weakness.”

Mystery shot his head up at Twilight. “Your faith in your friends is yours.” He sternly replied with a deep voice.
“They’re all gone now too," he added. "All turned to stone, all of their essences now mine to control as I please.” He chuckled. “Even your so called ‘Princess’ abandoned you to try to fight me alone. A TRUE ruler would strand up to her own battles.”

“She…she trusted us to stop you.” Twilight said, trying to defend Celestia.

“You know her powers. She COULD have stopped us, but not anymore. Her whole city is under MY control. If she isn’t going to come in…let’s just say I know things about this city that would force her to come.”

“You’re not going to get away with it.” Twilight spoke up. “Our Princess is attending to matters to make sure you can’t get away with it- that you’ll be stopped.” Twilight knew the power…the power of friendship and the elements of harmony- the ones that Celestia and Luna had used themselves in the past- those elements belonged to her and her friends now. Plus, the elements were stronger than Celestia and Luna were. The Princesses couldn’t have abandoned them. No…they were championing them- depending on them. If they couldn’t stop it, not even Celestia and Luna combined would have.

“We’ll see. I told all of my dark ponies that I, myself, would change the last ‘element’ and I suppose it’s you…you can turn quietly, or we can do this the hard way.”

“What do YOU think?” Twilight barked.

Mystery grinned wickedly. “I like the hard way anyways.” His horn started to glow with a pitch black aura surrounding it- shooting a large ray directed right at Twilight.

Twilight acted fast and shot a ray from her own horn- a white one in color, clashing with the black ray- but the black ray was forcing the white one back. Twilight leaned towards the ground with her horn glowing more and more, her eyes shut and teeth clenched. Her body strained as she tried to put more and more power into the spell to deflect the black ray directed to her, but the dark ray was still inching its way closer to her.

“Twilight” a voice spoke in Twilights head. A soothing calm voice…a familiar one too.

“C…Celestia?” Twilight managed to barely say as she strained with the magic.

“Twilight, the power of friendship is something that cannot be separated- even if you’re far, far away from your friends, their power is still within you.” Celestia’s voice rang out in Twilight’s mind.

“I don’t…I don’t understand…my friends…they’ve…they’re…”

“They’ve turned to stone- but they are still your friends. The elements cannot be split apart, their powers, along with the power of friendship, allow you to use their powers no matter where they are, or what has happened to them. Think of your friends, Twilight! Remember their friendships!”

Twilight tried to fight back the ray that kept coming closer, but in her mind she tried to recall the events of her friends. Meeting Pinkie Pie for the first time and how she was taught to ‘giggle at the ghosties’,
about AJ’s massive family and her reliability to always get things done, no matter what she was going through.
Rarity’s love towards the ‘finer’ things, but how she still cares for her friends and goes out of her way to design the dresses for them, no matter how ‘hideous’ she may think the dresses may be- they were for her friends after all.
Rainbow Dash’s ‘beginning’ attempts to make Twilight happy with her mane, and how she would never leave her friends behind.
Fluttershy’s love for animals, and even greater towards her friends- willing to risk anything to save them.
And then there was Spike, the baby dragon that had been her friend for longer than she could have imagined.

She focused on her friendships, calling on her friends in her mind- needing their assistance now more than ever. Her tiara started to glow and the white ray that had nearly vanished, pushed back to Twilight- was starting to grow strong. It started rushing forward and shoving the black ray out of the way- pushing both rays to the wall resulting in a massive explosion. Luckily, Celestia’s throne room walls were built sturdy enough to prevent any damage.

Mystery’s horn stopped glowing and he looked over at where the explosion occurred. “How…”

Twilight’s Tiara continued glowing as she started to float up into the air- her eyes calmly shut now. Outside of the throne room, one by one, the statue elements of harmony had their own necklaces glowing. Fluttershy’s in the garden- her necklace shot a green beam towards the castle. The beam pierced through walls, pierced through the door and hit Twilight’s Tiara.

One by one, each element’s own beam shot from their own necklaces. Pinkie’s pink beam, Rainbow Dash’s blue beam, Rarity’s purple beam, Applejack’s orange beam, each beam penetrating whatever it hit and striking Twilights Tiara one by one.

“What’s…happening?” Mystery asked- his eyes turning to the glowing Twilight and tiara- seeing the rainbow of colors.

“The power of friendship knows NO bounds.” Twilight replied- her eyes still closed. “No matter where my friends are, no matter WHAT you’ve done to them, they’re still my friends who are always willing to help me no matter what. Now, they’re helping me by giving me their elements of harmony.” Twilight started to smile. “It’s over, Mystery.” Her eyes shot open- nothing more than blank white and large circles. From her horn, a rainbow shot out spinning like a tornado and aiming right for Mystery.

Mystery gasped and shot magic from his own horn- another ray of pure darkness, combining with the swirling rainbow, but his magic was being pushed back rapidly. “The power…of family…”

“You aren’t fighting for family.” Twilight spoke- speaking the voice of all of her friends and herself. “You’re fighting for your own greed now, something the power of the elements, the power of friendship, have MUCH strength over!”

“No…” Mystery said quietly, trying to fight the magic back still, but it was no use. His ray was forced back and the rainbow struck his feet, surrounding him in a tornado of colors. “NO!” he screamed as the rainbow swallowed him in the vortex.

As the rainbow colors started to fade around Mystery’s body, it showed a gray pony with pitch black mane hair collapsed onto the floor, fainted. Twilight wasn’t finished though, her rainbow shot up above the throne and pierced the glass ceiling that stood above it- spreading a rainbow across all of Canterlot. The rainbow shattered into crystal rain that poured down onto the city. As the raindrops touched the stone ponies- the gray dullness of their bodies glowed as color returned to their hides, turning them from stone, to real live ponies. One by one, Twilight’s friends returned to normal. The rain even went through buildings, turning Spike and Mystic to normal as well.
As the ponies returned to normal, the dark ponies started to dissipate, one by one vanishing as if the sun had come out and touched the shadows.

Twilight’s glow vanished and she floated to the ground, gently touching it and smiling. Soon all of her friends busted through the throne doors happily. “You did it Twilight!” Applejack shouted, and the other ponies cheered. Twilight just smiled happily as her friends lifted her up in the air and tossed her up and down, cheering for what the purple pony had accomplished.

Later that day, the city of Canterlot was slowly returning to normal. The ponies were going about their daily lives, and Twilight, along with her other friends, were in the throne room where Celestia and Luna stood back in their rightful place.

“Elements,” Celestia said. “I cannot thank you enough for what you have done. Truly, you accomplished things greater than I, or my sister, could have ever done with what events happened today. The city of Canterlot is safe again, and the dark ponies are gone without a trace.”

“Thank you, Princess.” Twilight said happily, bowing down before her. “What of Mystery?”

“He’ll get what he deserves.” Celestia glanced over to a gray pony that stared down at the floor meekly. His black wings down in shame and horn not glowing in the least. Beside him were two of Celestia’s guards, watching him carefully. “But you should go home now and get some rest; it’s been a long day.”

Twilight nodded. Spike, now as happy as could be, jumped on Twilight’s back and the group started out of the throne room, one by one returning their elements of harmony, the necklaces and the tiara, to their proper hidden place.

Once they had left- the door to the throne room closed behind them and the hidden panel with the elements slammed shut. Celestia and Luna then looked over at Mystery and walked over to him as a pair. Luna glanced up at her sister and nudged her. “Go easy on him.”

Celestia looked down at Luna with an emotionless expression before over at Mystery. “Mystery, I hope you’ve learned why I tell you to control your emotions and not dabble in the dark magic. The dark magic is much more harsh than what I teach. Using it to give yourself wings, using it for your own gain, is unacceptable. You saw what happens when it spirals out of control.”

Mystery kept his eyes to the floor, not bowing or nodding to Celestia. “Yes…punish me then. I deserve it.”

Celestia sighed. “Mystery, I try to know my students very well. If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you knowing what YOU caused is punishment enough. However, I’m going to send you somewhere where I know this will never happen again.”

Mystery raised his head, his blue eyes finally meeting Celetia’s own eyes. He didn’t ask where, he didn’t WANT to know where. He was expecting some place terrible…some place horrible.

Epilogue:

Back at Ponyville, Twilight was finally beginning to enjoy herself again. Both she and Spike had just gotten a good night sleep after a terrible day they had experienced.

As the pair was eating breakfast, Spike’s gemstones and Twilight’s own cereal, Spike finished his food and patted his full belly before burping up a flaming letter that Twilight caught in midair.

Twilight opened the letter with a smile on her face, expecting to hear from Celestia, and what might have happened to Mystery. What she read in the letter though…it caused her to frown and groan. “You’ve GOT to be kidding me.”

END