The Hidden Student

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.”