Mystic Quartz

by pixelbit5

Born yesterday

Cheerilee rubbed her temples. In front of her, sat in her favourite comfy chairs, were a small white pegasus, and what could only be described as an unholy testament to the fundamental laws of magic and science, all wrapped up in an, all things considered, rather friendly dragonpone. Though, the relative warmth of the pair could not mask the head-splitting absurdity of what they were asking of her.

"So... you're telling me," she started slowly, rolling the words round in her mind, making sure she fully comprehended the situation. "that you two are now the parents to a two-day-old dragon-pony-dragonpony hybrid, who possesses the combined intellects of at least two fully grown adults, spawned out of what is essentially an infinite broom closet, and your first instinct was to send them to preschool."

Both of the creatures in front of her blinked, glanced over at one another, then shrugged.

"In our defence, we haven't really done much like this before." Pixel said, shuffling his wings uncomfortably, his gaze cast downward.

Splight ruffled their mane in discomfort, turning their gaze to Cheerilee. "Okay, so listen. Mystic is an anomaly, we all know that. And I believe that they still have to find how they fit into this world, make sense of who they are, all that." Splight glanced away. "I went through a similar time myself. It was... well, complicated seems like a good enough word."

Splight paused, tensing a little, continuing. "Twilight tried her best raising Spike, and yeah, I think she did a pretty good job. But this is a whole new deal. Mystic isn't a baby dragon. They're not easy like that. They're a full-grown hybrid. At least, as far as we can tell. All I'm saying is, we're lost on this, and thought you could help."

Cheerilee nodded slowly, taking in Splight's words, short of the fact that it was in fact quite difficult to raise a live dragon. The fact that she knew this was not to be questioned by her students, their parents, or official Equestrian law officers. "I... do suppose I could watch over them for a few days..." she said, Splight and Pixel smiling at each other. "Though I will require a few details."

Cheerilee took out a clipboard, a couple of forms held within, and along with a favourite pen, she began to take down some details.

"So, what would be Mystic's full name?"

"We've just been calling them Mystic, really." Splight responded. "Though, I suppose Mystic Quartz would be appropriate. It's not official or anything, but Mystic likes it."

Cheerilee nodded, jotting that down. "Now, how about species? Of course, they don't exactly seem to fit into any of the three common races."

Again, Splight responded. "As far as we know, Mystic seems to be a similar species to me." Glancing away, they twiddled their claws. "Though, that doesn't exactly help matters all that much. Even I'm not sure what exactly I am. Sure, they may have aspects of a more typical pony mixed in there, but unfortunately I'm afraid we're not quite sure."

Cheerilee stared back and forth between the dragonpone and her clipboard, eventually deciding to leave the space blank for the time being. Probably for the best.

"How about age?" She asked again. Surely this would be a lot more straight-forward.

Pixel shuffled in his seat. "Well, as far as we know, they're about a couple days old. Though they have the mind and body of a pony around ten, maybe? Really, it's not too clear."

Splight nodded. "Though they do show an unending curiosity not uncommon in fillies and colts significantly younger than they themselves appear." they added.

The teacher nodded, jotting down '2 (days)', of course with a healthy portion of question marks. Of course, not the best answer possible, but it was at least an answer. Hopefully she could keep this train going for a while.

"And how about gender?" Hopefully she would be able to get at least some kind of answer. Celestia knew she needed that right now.

Pixel hesitantly shrugged. "So far, we haven't really figure that out. At the moment, it's as much of a mystery as them." He motioned to the dragonpone. "The furthest we've been able to get is that they're nonbinary, so that's something, I guess. Maybe in time as they develop as their own pony, they'll begin to lean one way or the other, but so far, nothing."

Cheerilee should have known better than to hope for an easy answer.

"Well…" Cheerilee smiled awkwardly. "I suppose that's enough…?" It wasn't really a confirmation of anything. She was still pretty uncertain about all this. What should she expect from Mystic in the classroom? She did look quite a bit older than a lot of the ponies in her care. Would she be ostracised? Would she be able to keep up with lessons? Would she excel? It was all a lot to be nervous about.

"I suppose they can come in tomorrow. Of course, if you will allow." Cheerilee watched the two, glancing between them. Both of them nodded, and after some polite small talk, she quietly ushered them out, all saying their typical goodbyes, see you soons, all that. Of course, Cheerilee couldn't help feeling that she was extremely unprepared to handle whatever this child could throw at her, though she was determined not to let them get to her.

Then again, if all else failed, there was always alcohol.

---

This was dumb.

This bag was heavy.

Why did it have so much stuff in it?

Pixel and Splight guided me up the path towards Cheerilee's school. We were still quite a long way off, but that was fine with me. Truth be told, being outside was pretty amazing. I had stepped outside for a little while the day before, but this was the first real time I had ventured out beyond the castle and into Ponyville. Everything was so pretty! The houses looked like they were straight out of a fantasy book, and everypony was so colourful and nice! For the most part anyway.

Of course, both Splight and me were getting quite a few stares, and I felt as if I knew exactly why. I'm not sure how I knew, but I did seem to have quite a few foggy memories both from Splight and from Pixel. It was a little surreal. I could remember things that had never happened to me, experiences that I had no part in, and secrets not meant to be shared. It was a little like I was dreaming them up.

Either way, I still shrunk behind Splight and Pixel whenever those ponies began to stare. Splight continued to walk on, seemingly uncaring about what they thought. But I knew better. It didn't bother them as much as it once had, but it still got to them sometimes. I suppose I just needed to learn to ignore them, like Splight had.

I shifted my bag with a wing, trying to alleviate the discomfort. Splight had packed me so many things it was a wonder that my pack could hold it all. Books, quills, a few pots of ink, sandwiches, and a big blue sapphire for good measure. I understood that they were excited, but this may have been a little bit excessive.

As we walked through Ponyville, I smiled. There was a light breeze, carrying the scent of the forests into the humble little town. Leaves softly scattered across the pathway as the sun shone down, warming the soft earth below. It was nice. A small stream ran through the town, the soft sounds of running water filling the idle air. As we proceeded, I could see many different ponies going about their day. I felt as if I knew some of them, a sort of idle familiarity. Of course, those memories were not my own. I wonder if I would ever formally meet any of them some day.

Leaving the town behind us, we headed up into the hills. I was a little excited about the day ahead, but I couldn't help the nervousness creeping in. I knew what was happening. Of course I knew I was different from the others, that fact couldn't be avoided. I knew, I was bigger, weirder, and that I had spawned out of a boundless blue void. I didn't know how ponies were made, but as far as I knew, it sure as heck wasn't that. I decided not to think about it all that much.

As we neared the top of the hill, I looked towards the school building. It looked like a tiny house, painted brightly like a children's toy. I have no idea why I found that so amusing, but I did. Ponies were spilling inside, a lot of them much smaller than myself. Some of the bigger ponies were standing outside, idly chatting to pass the time. Passing them, they began looking at us, their chats stopping for a second. I shrunk behind Pixel, following him inside as the eyes followed me, tracking my every move.

Inside, I was met with rows and rows of desks facing a large green chalkboard, little ponies setting themselves down for the day. While Splight went to chat with the teacher, Cheerilee, I assumed, Pixel fidgeted a little. "So, um…" he started. "have a good day at school I guess?" He shrugged, and I chuckled.

"You're not very good at this." I smirked at him.

He laughed quietly. "Mystic, I'm lost here. I am way too young to be a parent."

I smiled, understanding well enough. I gently nuzzled against him, just as Cheerilee headed up the front of the room and called attention to herself. Splight met up with Pixel, the both of them heading out the door together, both of them saying their goodbyes for the day. I waved back, smiling.

I knew well enough that things were moving pretty fast for them, and I really did appreciate how well they were handling things so far. Hopefully school would be at least a decent experience for me.

"Ah! Everypony," Cheerilee announced, quickly trotting over to me and guiding me up the front, "We have a new student today! I would like you to meet Mystic Quartz! They'll be attending here for the time being!"

As I looked out onto the sea of maybe fifteen or so ponies, all appearing significantly younger than me, their eyes staring blankly into my soul, I weakly waved, unsure of what to say.

Then the chatter began.

"She's so big!" "What's with their wings?" "Did you see that dragon bring her in?" "Why does he have two horns?" "What are they anyway?" "Do you think he eats ponies?" "Why have I never seen them before?" "Look at her claws!" "Do you think they're nice?" "Did they come from the Everfree?" "How old is he anyway?" "Where do you think he's from?"

I continued to stare blankly, my smile wilting a little as the chatter continued. I was beginning to feel a bit unsure about this whole thing.

The class was snapped out of its chatter by a couple hardy stomps by Miss Cheerilee, the hollow hardwood thump echoing through the classroom. "Quiet, everypony." She waited a second, placing a gentle hoof on my shoulder, smiling down at me. "Why don't you go and find a seat, sweetie?"

I nodded, heading forward through the rows of desks. All eyes were still on me as I placed one hoof in front of the other, glancing around the room for an empty desk. The front row was filled, as was the next, and the next, and the next. Eventually, I found an empty spot near the back of the class, setting down my heavy saddlebags and climbing into the seat, my claws tensing idly.

An awkward silence fell over the class as everyone tried their best not to stare at me. Looking for something to occupy my hooves, I set one of the pots of ink on the edge of my desk, looking bashfully down at my hooves.

"Now!" Cheerilee called out, smiling. "How many unicorns do we have in the room?"

The class murmured in confusion as maybe six or so unicorns raised their hooves.

"Good! Now, can any of you tell me how magic works?"

One filly, a small white unicorn with a curly purple mane spoke up. "Um, well, you focus really hard, then you imagine what you want to do, and then… you just sort of… make it happen?"

Wow her voice was squeaky. I think her voice cracked about 86 times during that sentence. A feat to be sure.

Cheerilee smiled. "Almost, Sweetie Belle! Does anypony know how magic enables us to do those things?" She glanced around the classroom, not really looking for an answer. Of course she was going to explain it, but it took me a minute to realise that my hoof was raised.

Cheerilee beamed as she saw me. "Yes Mystic?" I looked up, blushing a little before I regained my composure. Well, I was in this now, I guess. Suppose I should go all in. It was time to go off.

"Well, I suppose we should begin with discussing the innate magic present in most natural or heavily populated locations. This of course is caused by a large amount of life, either sentient or non, existing in a state of harmony with one another, generating a magical field that can be tapped into by all magical creatures, not limited to unicorns, but also to pegasi and earth ponies too. Of course, unicorns are the most easily able to tap into this field, using their horns as a magical anchor or conduit to channel magic into something that can affect the physical plane. Both pegasi and earth ponies have magical conduits but are unable to actively channel magic from the common magical field, relying on their innate abilities and natural affinity. If the magical field is not present, most ponies have a magical reservoir, converting the field into mana, which is detected as their own individual aura, or as an expression of themselves. Tapping into this magical reservoir allows the user to use more powerful magic but will often leave to user drained and vulnerable to unexpected or unwanted effects of volatile spells such as curses or charms. Using a pony's magic to effect the physical realm in small ways such as telekinesis, or even higher tier magics such as teleportation often do not leave a strain on the user, provided they are experienced enough to channel safely and effectively."

As I finished speaking, I felt everypony's eyes on me again.

Maybe general preternatural dynamics wasn't the best place to start.

Maybe I should have stayed quiet.

Maybe I fricked up.

…

"What?" called out a colt.

The rest of the class chattered in confusion, until Cheerilee called out again.

"Okay everypony, I um… I suppose this calls for an early recess."

A few of the students cheered, scrambling out the door and onto the playground, while I was left fidgeting uncomfortably at my desk, wondering if I had done something wrong.

While Cheerilee left for her office, I saw a couple of fillies approaching me, brows furrowed and hooves stomping on the hardwood floor. Even though walking across it normally didn't make all that much sound. You had to actively try to make any real sound like that. Listen guys, it's not hard, I can show you.

"Who do you think you are?" A small pink unicorn asked, screwing up her face. The tiara situated atop her head made it readily apparent to anypony looking on the kind of pony this kid was.

"I uh…" I started, before the other filly cut me off, a grey earth pony with a thick white mane and bright blue glasses.

"Did you really think you could upstage us like that, smarty pants? Are you even supposed to be in our grade?"

I was taken aback. I stayed silent as the both of them continued to get up in my face.

"Look at him. Why is he even here? Probably an accident." the grey filly continued, really getting into the swing of things.

The pink one smirked. "Yeah. I bet he was never even supposed to be here anyway! Look at you. Are you a boy or a girl, anyway? And just look at those horns!"

I blushed red, covering my horns with my hooves, staying silent.

After a few moments of silence, the pink filly scoffed. "What, you're not going to say anything? Do you even know who I am?"

I shook my head. I had literally never seen these two in my entire life. And I'm sure it was the same for her. Was she some common figure I needed to know about? Celestia I hope not.

She scoffed again, but somehow harder this time. "I'm Diamond Tiara! Everypony knows that name! And you don’t! What, were you born yesterday?"

Ooh! I know this one! I nodded enthusiastically, smiling a little as my hooves fell back into my lap. "Close! It was a couple days ago actually!" I bounced happily in my seat, though I was not met with the same enthusiasm.

The both of them stayed silent for a moment, before Diamond Tiara spoke up. "Are… are you serious…?"

I nodded again. "Yup! I came out of a void!"

Tiara just stood there. "I… um…" She shuffled in place awkwardly, before turning to her companion. "Silver, how do I respond to that…?"

Silver shrugged, before backing off a little, prompting Tiara to reluctantly do the same.

They both huffed loudly, making a point to turn their backs to me, just to assert how much better than me they thought they were. Before strutting off, Diamond Tiara smirked, flicking my inkpot with her tail, knocking it off the table before running quickly out into the yard.

I watched it fall for a second, before it was caught in a weak green aura.

"Ignore them. They're meanies." I looked over to the speaker as they shakily placed the pot back on the table with their magic. The squeaky white unicorn from earlier, Sweetie Belle I think, finished rummaging through her bag, eventually pulling out a large magnifying glass. "You can come hang out with us if you want. We're by the big tree near the river."

As she walked out the class, I was left a little confused by the whole deal. Digging out the sapphire, I decided to follow.

---

I sat on a log by the river, gnawing on my sapphire. It was hard to get through, but I was managing. I continued to gnaw off small chunks of the rock, chewing on those like popcorn kernels as I watched those three fillies. I knew Sweetie Belle, but I didn't think I had seen the other two. A pale-yellow earth pony and a tomboyish orange pegasus, who just happened to be holding the magnifying glass I had seen earlier. She was holding it up in the air while she fluttered just above the ground, her eyes pinned to whatever was on the ground in front of them.

"C'mon, Scoots!" the yellow one piped up, a thick southern accent extremely apparent. "How're we gonna be Cutie Mark Crusaders firefighters if there's no fire t' fight?"

"I'm… trying…!" The pegasus responded through her teeth, trying her best to hoist the magnifying glass higher into the air. Eventually, she grunted, landing back onto the ground and spitting the glass onto the dirt riverbank. "Ugh… we're never gonna get it to light! Why can't we just get Sweetie to do it?"

Sweetie huffed. "Rarity said I couldn't do that spell anymore. I only singed my mane once, it's not like I set fire to her fabrics! I learned my lesson after the other four times! I don't get why it was such a big deal!"

"Say, why're we try'na do this anyways? We already got our cutiemarks." the yellow one asked, kicking at the ground in frustration.

"Duh, for fun!" The pegasus smirked. "Just wish we could get the dang thing going though…"

The trio glanced around idly, before Sweeties eyes fell on me.

She pointed, jumping up and down as she chattered at her friends, the squeaks of excitement making it hard to translate what in Equestria she was saying. Now, over the last couple days of my comparatively short life, I've come to be suspicious of anypony pointing in my general direction. I mean, I get it, I know, new hybrid and all, but sometimes I wished they could just… not.

This did not feel the same as all those other times.

This felt significantly worse.

This felt like chaos incarnate.

And y'know what?

I was okay with this.

Sweetie Belle dashed over to me, grabbing my hoof. "Mystic's a dragon! Maybe they can help!"

I stared at her, and she stared back. Eventually Sweetie got the message and let my hoof fall back into my lap as she chuckled bashfully.

As the others came over, the pegasus called out. "Hey, you’re a dragon, right? That's so cool!"

The yellow filly chuckled, formally introducing the three. "Howdy there! M'name's Apple Bloom, this is Scootaloo, and that there's Sweetie Belle! I think y'all've met." I nodded to her, happy to finally be able to put names to slightly overeager faces.

"Hey, do you shoot fire!?" Scootaloo asked enthusiastically, her wings fluttering wildly as she borderline climbed over her friends to get closer to me.

Both of the others chuckled idly as I looked on, a tad baffled by this whole meeting. "Sorry." Apple Bloom apologised. "She's a might excited."

"Oh, uh… No, it's no problem." I replied, fidgeting a little. "I um… I don't actually know if I can shoot fire yet. Or at all, really. I actually haven't learnt how to do much of anything yet. I don't even know how to fly yet."

"Hey, wanna try?" Apple Bloom asked. "We've got some dried leaves over there that we're try'na set alight!"

I thought about it for a bit, before deciding, sure. What the heck. I doubt anything could go wrong. Didn't need a reason, just trusting three fillies trying to set a fire in the schoolyard. Sounded good enough for me.

The three led me over to a small pile of dried sticks and leaves, all watching me intently.

I stared at it, completely unsure of what the heck I was supposed to do. The pile itself was incredibly unremarkable. The sort of thing that would hold a small flame but smother itself out as soon as all was said and done, which didn't look to be all that long in all honesty. So should I just blow on it? Or maybe it's like throwing up, but fire comes out instead! That could work! Okay Mystic, time to follow those dragon instincts that you of course no doubt obviously have.

I focused a little, breathing in through my nose, trying to fill my lungs with as much air as I possibly could. My lungs were great! I had made them myself I think! Feeling heat begin to stir in my chest, I focused on mentally stoking the flames. How I did that, I had no idea. It just sorta happened. The heat rose to my throat, making it a little hard to breathe. Opening my mouth, I felt the fire expand inside me, becoming almost uncontainable.

Boy I hope this is actually fire breath and not Equestria's most disappointing case of heartburn.

As the flames reached the back of my mouth, my nostrils began to smoke as ash filled my mouth. It was actually a lot less annoying than you'd think. I'd never had barbeque, but this is what I imagined it tasted like. My mouth was super dry now though.

As the heat reached a fever pitch, I focused on channelling my flames, furrowing my brow as I aimed them directly at that measly pile of twigs.

And then I let it go.

The fireball exploded from my muzzle with a sickening boom, the recoil actually pushing me back a little, my glasses flying off my nose. I stood a little dazed as ponies from all over the playground turned to look. What used to be a small pile of dried off sticks and leaves was now a smouldering crater in the dirt, soft blue-green embers burning brightly as soft flames licked at the grass.

Everypony stood stunned, while I was left to retrieve my glasses, rubbing my quickly cooling muzzle. "Woah!" all three Cutie Mark Crusaders cheered in unison, staring back and forth between me and the crater I had left.

The fireball left me dizzy, but I was able to regain my composure fairly quickly, stomping out any spreading flames with a claw, careful as to not burn my coat. I was lucky that this hadn't done any real damage. Though I had never honestly thought that I would ever be able to do something this powerful. The crater was about a half meter wide and a few centimetres deep. Not all that impressive on its own, but I was weirdly proud of it. Guess I had a lot more in common with dragons than I thought.

As the heat in my chest died down, I glanced back at the school playground. A lot of the colts and fillies were staring at me, but I felt as if it was different this time. There were less stares of morbid curiosity, and more of… well, just of the regular kind of curiosity I suppose. And of admiration. And I suppose of wonder? I dunno. Last one seemed far-fetched to me.

All I knew was that I was beginning to like it here. I felt as if I finally had some place that I belonged, where I had friends. Sure, there were downsides, Tiara being a pretty big one, but I was going to be here for those too. All I knew was that I was going to be here for a very long time.

---

"There's no way they're going to be here another day… I am absolutely going to have to expel them…" Cheerilee muttered as she poured her third glass of wine. "It's only the first day and they've already set off a fireball in the yard…"

She paced around the classroom, frantically glancing out the window. "Besides, they're much too intelligent for a place like this!" She took a shaky sip from her glass. "I wouldn't want to hold back a student from their full potential, now would I!?" Cheerilee felt manic. She was usually rather good at hiding it from the students whenever feelings such as this came up, but today, there were only so many early recesses she could issue.

She idly stroked the bottle of wine, losing herself in thought. "What am I going to tell Twilight? Or, Splight, I suppose? Or whoever else is responsible? The pegasus maybe? Should I hold a parents meeting? No, I had one yesterday…" She muttered, losing herself a little.

"Okay, Cheerilee, calm down. Everything is under control." she told herself, as she did not in fact have anything remotely under control. "Just go out there, call the class in, and have a talk to Mystic's parents when they get- Oh sweet Celestia!"

Suddenly, Cheerilee's attention was ripped from the half empty bottle of wine, leaving it standing on the counter as she rushed out into the yard to fetch the garden hose to douse the great oak tree which had mysteriously and violently caught fire. Though the source of the blaze could not be determined exactly, a mere coincidence that it shared the same blue-green colouration as Mystic's fireball, it was safe to say that Mystic's attendance at Ponyville Elementary would soon be coming to an abrupt and heated end.