The Hidden Student

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.”