One day, in the Everfree Forest, Twilight Sparkle was going to visit her friend Zecora. As she approached, the Zebra hurried her over.
"Come, today there is something you should see, a new resident in the Forest Everfree." Rhymed Zecora, as she tended to do. Twilights eye's lit up as she heard there was another to meet in the forest. "Oooh, is it another Zebra, a dragon maybe? Or something new?" twilight asked as she looked around.
"New to me, though may not to you. A pony he is, something else too. An alicorn, both with wings and Horn."
"An alicorn? That's odd, the alicorns I know are royalty, why would someone of such high stature live in the Everfree Forest?"
"I know not, though royalty is not every alicorn's lot"
"Well, what's his name, where can I meet him?" Twilight asks hopeful still that she can meet a new friend, and maybe even learn something from an alicorn. Zecora started to frown as she soon explained to twilight,
"I don't know his name, only where he dwells, whenever I approach he hides as if in shame."
"Maybe he's just shy, Well, lead the way Zecora."
"Very well, you me right, I sense he could use a friend, perhaps someone bright"
The two made their way through the Everfree Forest for a while. Twilight looked around as the walked, remembering some of the area they were in as being somewhat close to where they first found the elements of harmony and fought Nightmare Moon. There was a rather nice looking reed cabin in a small clearing in the forest, a little too nice to be entirely natural. This didn't entirely surprise Twilight as she knew alicorns were highly magical in nature.
"This is the place, I'll leave you alone, as I don't think he likes my face." Zecora said, and before Twilight could protest she had disappeared into the forest. Almost before she realized it fully, she had knocked on the door, and offered a "Hello, anyone home?"
"I know that voice" whispered a voice from inside, though Twilight couldn't make it out. "Excuse me?" Twilight asked as she knocked again. A rather audible sigh came from inside as the door opened and a rather odd looking alicorn stood there. He motioned her in. He was a jet black alicorn, buthis wings and horn were white, and his mane and tail were a rainbow of red blue yellow green black and white with a cressent shaped 'scar' over his left eye, though it wasn't all there when he closed ihs eye, just a black eyelid. His cutie mark was a rainbow shield with a white crescent moon surrounded by seven stars with a golden sword behind it. He walked over to the bed next to a sparsely occupied bookshelf, only about 12 books where several dozen more could be placed. Twilight smiled softly and offered,
"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle" He didn't much respond physically, he seemed rather preoccupied with something. "If we're going with full names, Mystic Night Inferno. Please, call me Mysti." Responded the forlorn alicorn.
"Mysti? That's a strange name for a stallion."
"It's complicated, I'd be talking for a while if I laid my problems on the line for you. And besides, you probably wouldn't consider them real problems, no one else seemed to." Mysti looked around for a while before he found a heart shaped necklace, and put it on. The strand it was attached to was simple string, and the heart itself was just stone. However, he focused and used his magic on the heart and it shone in several brilliant colors, if only for a moment, and his body went from that of a alicorn stallion to an earth pony mare. His hair changed to fiery red and orange and his cutie mark changed to a blazing winged heart.
"What was that?" Twilight asked rather surprised by several things at once.
"Something you need to know about, Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic." Mysti got out of bed and over to his bookshelf, and got out a book, and laid it on a nearby table. Pulling up a chair for himself and Twilight, he opened the book to a chapter called 'reconstituting broken magic'. Twilight read the name aloud and asked,
"What's this? What broken magic are you reconstituting?" Mysti was obviously nervous.
"Something that doesn't belong to me, but something I was hoping to use, just once, for myself, and then give back to the rightful owners." He paused for a moment, hoping that Twilight wasn't about to get mad at him before he continued.
"The Elements of Harmony." Twilight was indeed struck in awe by this at first, before inquiring further.
"What do you mean The Elements of Harmony? My friends and I have the elements of harmony, we've used them several times to defeat evil."
"Your exploits with the Elements of Harmony are legendary, to be sure. But, before they reformed, and chose you six as the new guardians of the Elements, Nightmare Moon shattered them." Mysti Replied.
"Wait, how do you know all that?" Twilight Asked
"I've other things to show you, but one thing at a time. This amulet is shards of elements that weren't reconstituted into the new Elements of Harmony." Mysti held the heart of stone in his hoof tight to his chest.
"That's what the shine was, it was the dormant Elements of Harmony activating for a moment, but why did that change you into a mare for a moment?" Twilight Asked.
"It's what I want, it's what I've wanted for so long. I'd give all my magic and the gift of flight for it it." Mysti said.
"Well, now your name makes more sense, you want to be a mare, not a stallion, don't you?" Twilight asked. Mysti nodded, and teared up a little.
"It's half the reason I live in the Everfree Forest. I wouldn't be welcome in a place like Ponyville...I envy you, my coat is black, half the ponies would think me evil from sight alone. Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra all black coats, all evil. And, the other half would ostracize me for being..."Twilight cut off Mysti and finished his sentence,
"Transgendered." Mysti nodded again, smiling a little before going on.
"I'm not surprised someone who lives in a library knows about my...disorder." Mysti smiled then frowned at that, Twilight was curious now, needing to know something.
"I know you said one thing at a time, but please, how do you know so much about me?"
"It's not just you, its your friends too, and some of the residents of Ponyville as well. Namely the cutie mark crusaders, though I don't know why them. Still, their adventures are fun too. Well, I said there were other things I had to show you, so come on follow me." Mysti said, half to himself, as he left the house and waited for Twilight to follow.
"You're not spying on us from here are you?" Twilight was now very suspicious of this pony.
"Well, yes and no... it's complicated. Like I said, I'll show you, please follow." They seemingly went in a few circles before coming up to a place that was quite near the temple of the Elements of Harmony. Where Twilight and her friends first used them, though there was seemingly no way there from where they were either. It was a large ruin with columns and spread throughout the area were several pools of varying size.
"Welcome to the Pools of Vision, as I've come to call them." Mysti said, pointing to a medium sized pool in the center of the ruin. Twilight looked in it and saw herself, the day she was given the assignment of coming to Ponyville for the first time. "That's me, when I was moving to Ponyville!" Exclaimed Twilight
"Yes, these pools, I think show the exploits of the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, as well the cutie mark crusaders, I believe one day they will play an important role, though as to what, I'm still not sure. The pools tend not to show anything too private or embarrassing, though it seems they are trying to tell stories. Perhaps this used to be a school of some sort, these ruins suggest the Everfree Forest wasn't always here." Mysti exposited.
"So, you've been watching my friends and I learn and grown and battle the forces of evil from these pools?" Twilight was unsure of what to think of this.
"I have, I don't spend all that much time here though, about once a week, for about half an hour, sometimes an hour. I know it's sort of an invasion of privacy, but it's the closet thing I'm ever going to have to a home in Ponyville." Mysti Sighed, and swirled the water with his hoof, after that all that was seen in the pool was a reflection.
"I suppose now i need to give you this back, and stop watching these pools. I really shouldn't hide from Zecora either, she means no harm, I just, I get scared."
"I think it's okay if you keep that amulet, and if you're not doing anything evil with the pools, I don't see why you can't keep watching them. But I do agree with you, the ponies in Ponyville aren't ready for someone like you. But, I can sense that you have a good heart, and don't mean harm. Besides, I think we need someone to guard the Remnants of Harmony, and you're just the pony to do it, Mysti." Mysti smiled happily being told this and they walked back to his cabin. When they got back, Twilight had a question for her host.
"There is one other thing. I was meaning to ask you, are you any kind of Royalty?" Mysti giggled.
"Because I'm an alicorn? Well, I was, but that's a story for another day. It's getting late, and you should head back before your friends get worried about you being gone so long."
"Oh, you're right, I must have lost track of the time with learning all of this with you! Thank you for sharing with me." Mysti stopped Twilight before she could finish, and handed her a book.
"Here you can have this. To remind you of me, not that I'm going anywhere. Come and visit whenever you feel like it, but I thought it would be a nice gift. You probably don't have it in your collection, even if you do live in a library." The book Mysti gave her was entitled, 'Magicks of the Old and New' it was by M. N. I. "Something I've been writing in my spare time." Twilight nodded and smiled and replied, "Looks like a good read, thank you very much."
That night, just before opening her new book to read, Twilight wrote a letter to Princess Celestia.
'Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I met a new friend. She seemed kind of sad at first, but I got to know her, and learned new things. She was really different from what I was used to, but I learned that being different isn't a bad thing. She was kind and generous, if a little strange, and most importantly she had a good heart. I have a feeling I'll be seeing her again really soon. My list of friends keeps on growing, soon I may be friends with everybody.
Your faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.'
End Part 1
