The Hidden Student

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.”