Mystery's Mark

"Read it again," Twilight, said glancing down to the purple dragon briefly. She walked slowly along a dirt road path just along the outskirts of Ponyville. Recently, Celestia gave her a message, and directions, to follow. Twilight though, was still in complete disbelief over the whole thing.

"I've read it to you fourteen times." Spike gave a frustrated sigh. "No matter how many times I read it; it isn't going to change!" he held the piece of paper with both of his claws, the paper unfolded.

"Read it slowly." Twilight paused in her steps, looking down at Spike. "One part at a time."

"Alright, but this is the last one!" Spike was getting annoyed at the pony for having to read it so many times. Why couldn't she just read it herself?

"To my faithful student Twilight Sparkle, I am writing this letter to assure you that I have handled all matters and Mystery will no longer be a threat to Canterlot."

Twilight nodded, slowly starting up her walking pace again. "Yes. That part I understand. She knows after what happened at Canterlot that I want to know what she is going to do with that…thing." She couldn't even refer to Mystery as the pony that he was, much less his name.

"I have also made arrangements for Mystery to live just outside Ponyville."

Twilight closed her eyes as she lowered her head and shook it. "That part is…I don't get that. She's just releasing someone who just about destroyed Canterlot and sending him to Ponyville?! Read the next part." She would try to grasp why Celestia was even considering such a thing later on.

Spike sighed again. "I am also giving you a new mission. I am asking for you to help Mystery in Ponyville. He does not have any friends there at all."

"There!" Twilight suddenly turned to the dragon and lifted spike with her hooves, squeezing his cheeks tightly. Her face filled with worry. "She's telling me, ME, to help that depressing gray pony? What makes her think I would even want to help him?"

"You know there's more," Spike managed to say through his squeezed lips and raised the letter up between him and Twilight. "I know you may not like it, but treat this as a lesson to forgive and forget."

"Forget?" Twilight dropped spike to the ground and stood up on two hooves. She raised her forehooves up in the air. "FORGET?! Does she even REMEMBER what Mystery did?!"

Spike hit the ground with a thud. He rubbed his rear and glanced up at Twilight. "I know I do. I admit that it's weird Twilight. What can you do though? Are you going to refuse what she's asking you to do?"

"I don't know Spike," Twilight said with a sigh. She had been starting her pace of walking and stopping, and was now walking again at a very slow pace. "I can't refuse Celestia's orders. I guess, if nothing else, I'll at least make an appearance. That way I can say I tried."

"What do you think she means by 'help' though?" Spike finally rolled up the letter and rubbed his painful cheeks as he walked beside her.

"Probably earning his mark or something." Twilight lowered her head. "He is a flank blank you know." Twilight didn't want to recall his image of what he had turned into; much less remember what he even looked like in the first place. The gray pony with a pitch black hair and mane and a short gray horn. The pony had wings, but they were pitch black and emitted a magical glow that gave off a presence that reminded her of so many evils in the world she had faced before. Though it was the one feature that always stood out most was his rear; not a single cutie mark existed on his being. While young colts and fillies normally didn't get their marks until later in life, Mystery's age, based on how he looked at least, rivaled that of Twilight's own!

The pair walked slowly along the path until they reached a house. The house's green roof and yellow siding with red tinted windows and doors gave it a feeling that a very nice pony lived at the spot. Even trees were growing on one side of the house.

"This is the place." Twilight walked up to the red door, then paused as she stared at the wood, as if she were trying to look through it.

After what felt like a minute, Spike looked up at her. "Come on Twilight; what are you waiting for?" he poked and prodded at the purple pony. Sure, he wasn't more eager than she was to meet this pony again, but they were already there. It was like a shot; painful at first, but once it was done, then it was all over with.

"Spike, in case you forgot, let me remind you. I'm the one that stopped his plans of taking over Canterlot, and probably all of Equestria. Plus, he's absolutely cruel and heartless; he even struck his own brother in a huge fit of rage! What pony DOES that?!"

Before Spike could reply, the sound of locks could be heard on the other side of the door. The door creaked away from Twilight to reveal a gray colored pony with a short black mane and tail. Mystery, the pony that had turned into a dark pony, was now face to face with the one that stopped his reign- Twilight.
His wings from before were nonexistent. Nothing but two black streaks forming stitches were where his wings were once located, leaving him only a unicorn. For a brief moment, he was silent. His eyelids at a slant to look fierce and his mouth in a very slight frown. Clearly, he was as happy to see Twilight as Twilight was as happy to see him.
"Yes?" he finally spoke up in a hushed tone.

"Let's just get this over with." Twilight didn't care if Mystery heard her comment or not. "You know me, and I know you. I'm here to help you get your mark. The sooner we get through with this, the sooner we can never see each other again."

Mystery closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm aware you are here to assist me. Celestia informed me of this as I moved in. I took the liberties of preparing you this." Mystery reached just beyond the door and pulled out a sheet of paper rolled up like toilet paper. The sheet rolled down and past Twilight's hooves, aiming right into town. "This is a list of things I've done." He said with his mouth holding part of the paper.

"Things you've done to get your cutie mark?" Twilight was astounded for once. The pony had actually done quite a few things that weren't violent.

"Yes; everything from teaching Aardvark how to tap dancing to Zodiac Zoology." He replied casually.

"Aardvark…tap dancing?" Spike commented as he raised a brow up to the gray pony. He couldn't even imagine it.

"It's complicated," Mystery simply stated. "Now, see if you can find something that I haven't done. If you can find a better teacher for the job too, then do it." He was straightforward about the whole subject. He loathed mentioning how his rear indeed had not a single mark on it.

"Fine with me." Twilight's horn glowed as she took the paper from the gray pony's mouth and began to read it. "I don't see 'cooking' on this list," She stated outright, thankfully she didn't need to look that far down to see it was missing in an alphabetical list.

"Tried it once in school for a bit and didn't count it, wasn't really my thing."

Twilight rolled up the paper with her magic and set it down in front of Mystery's doorstep. "Still need to try it for longer than THAT. I know the perfect pink pony to help you out with it too. You just have to promise to behave."

"Celestia has stated that I do what you ask," Mystery said rolling his eyes. "Unless you tell me to go steal hay from a filly, I'll behave."

"Full of good ideas already." Twilight lowered her head and ears. "Let's go."

Before they left, Spike looked up at Mystery. “Hey, didn’t you have wings?” the dragon asked, curiously.

Twilight didn’t want to be with this pony longer than she had to, but Spike had a point. Mystery’s pitch black wings were gone! “Where did they go?” she outright added to Spike’s question.

“The wings were…obtained with magic that is considered illegal.” Mystery turned away from the pair to hide what emotion he might bring. “Celestia told me to never use such magics again and removed the wings.”

“Harsh,” Spike said quietly.

“Deserving.” Twilight closed her eyes and hid her emotions just as well as Mystery.

“How kind of you to care, Twilight,” Mystery turned back to her and closed his own eyes. “I’m sure you’ll be able to help me a lot.”

Spike stood between the two ponies, both of their eyes closed and not showing a sign of emotion, a sign of caring for each other in any way, shape, or form. “This is going to be a LONG day.” Spike groaned.