It was midnight. Every house in Ponyville was dark and silent except for the Golden Oaks Library. The windows were illuminated by the candles that sat around the rooms in upper-level of the tree. In the middle of the room downstairs was a tall skeletal Unicorn stallion. He wore a black pinstriped suit and a black wide-brimmed fedora sat upon his head. The flames of the fireplace played shadows on his skull. He was sitting at a desk; reading a few tomes on Phaya Naga, mythical serpent-like creatures who lived in the outskirts of Zebrica; the homeland of the zebra tribe. He was so indulged in the reading that he didn't hear the hoof steps coming up from behind him. When he did, he turned sharply and his horn ignited with red fire; his hat falling to the floor.
"Whoa, whoa!" Princess Twilight Sparkle cried, holding her hooves up in surrender. She was dressed in a purple nightgown. "Hold it, Mystery, it's just me!"
Mystery Keystone, a living skeleton with an impeccable dress sense, let his horn sizzle out and sat back on his haunches. He picked up his hat and placed it back on his head. "TwiStar," he said, using the nickname he gave her a while ago. "You know how much I hate it when you sneak up on me."
"And you know how much I hate it when you call me TwiStar." Twilight retorted.
Mystery tilted his head and chuckled. "Touche but you love it when I call you that. You are the color of twilight and are as beautiful as the stars of Luna's night." Twilight blushed sheepishly. His voice was smooth like velvet. She could listen to it all day. It occur to her that she missed something he had said.
"What was that?"
"I asked what brought you down here at this hour? Hadn't your studying session ended three hours ago?"
Twilight shrugged. "Yes but . . . um . . . I wanted to see what you were up to."
She couldn't think of an answer. Twilight swallowed hard. It had been six months since Mystery and his friends, Blazing Flame, and Inkblot came to Ponyville. Blazing was a Pegasus skeleton engulfed in flames and Inkblot was an Earth pony. When she first met Blazing, it was as if she was standing next to the sun itself. Thankfully, he had learned to control his heat waves since his arrival but she still couldn't sit next to Blazing without sweating. He was also a very fast racer; surprisingly giving Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. And Inkblot . . . Well, he was a different story.
When Twilight had first met him, she had suspected that he was the kind of pony who wanted to be left alone. After a few weeks, though, she began to worry so she asked Mystery if there was anything to do to help Inkblot. Mystery had explained that Inkblot had been through a very traumatic experience in his childhood and he usually kept to himself. He never talked about it to anypony so it was best to let him tell his story on his time. Twilight so wanted to reach out to Inkblot but she agree nonetheless. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.
But she knew Pinkie Pie would be less agreeable. Once she returns from her Baking Convention in Fillydelphia, Pinkie would be pestering Inkblot everyday to see a smile on his face - which was difficult since he wore a mask. Twilight hoped he would be understanding toward her friend's random behavior.
Twilight had met Mystery right away at her library. When they began to indulge in conversation, Twilight became thrilled that there was finally another pony who loved studying as much as she did. And Mystery was also happy to have a friend who could match his expertise. So from then on, the two ponies met each other at the library to talk about various subjects they'd longed to find out more about.
Ponies from around town had began to notice a sudden change in Twilight. They noticed how she seemed to light up when she spoke of Mystery. Even Princess Celestia saw how starstruck her Faithful Student seemed to be. Blazing and Rorschach had noticed something as well. The only thing that came out of Mystery's mouth was Twilight's name and he was rarely home. Sometimes Blazing would tease him, saying things like "You two should just get married already" or "You should just move into the library while you're at" or "Did you two kiss yet". Rorschach just stayed nonchalant and silent. The same thing happened to Twilight with Rainbow Dash. Dash would say something like Mystery would probably give Twilight a book for a wedding ring or that they would hold their wedding at the library.
"Oh, nothing like that will happen between Mystery and me," Twilight would say. "We're just friends."
"TwiStar is my friend," Mystery would tell his friends. "There's no way she would think twice about a pony like me."
Mystery cleared his throat; shaking Twilight out of her thoughts. "I was just going over some information on Phaya Naga. They fascinate me, you know."
"Interesting," Twilight replied. "May I join you?"
"Of course you can, your Highness." Mystery chuckled; moving away before Twilight had a chance to hit him. The two sat on the floor in the library; not thinking much about how close they were. They read the tome silently together. Mystery would speak up once in awhile, asking Twilight if it was okay to turn the page. Twilight had never been more happier in her life. But after awhile, she slowly realized something.
Mystery knew everything about her but she knew nothing about him. Well, she knew he came from Canterlot and how he met Blazing and Rorschach but . . . she didn't know anything about his past. About his family, childhood, or how he became a skeleton, for that matter. She thought about asking but didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. He'll tell his story on his own time. But still her curiosity was piqued.
"Um, Mystery?"
"Hmmm?"
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to but . . . but how did you . . . um . . . ?"
Mystery tensed up beside her, making Twilight cringe. "How I became a skeleton?"
She nodded slowly. "Well, I guess I knew you would ask that sooner or later." He said. He got up on his hooves and paced around the room. Twilight's ears folded back; afraid that she made him upset. He paced for a few minutes more and stopped to look at her. Silence was the only thing that filled the room.
"Mystery?" she asked.
Suddenly, his horn glowed underneath his hat and the two ponies were teleported to the inside of a cave. The transportation caught Twilight off guard as she yelped in surprise. The cave was semidark; saved by the soft light from the pool of water in the middle of the cave floor. Mystery was sitting next to it; staring at his reflection. Twilight slowly approached his side and sat next to him.
"I wanted to give you your answer in a . . . familiar setting," he began. "This place was my safe haven for a long time. Now what do you want to know?"
"How did you end up this way?" she asked. "Were you born like this?"
"No, I was born perfectly normal; mane, tail, skin, cutie mark, the whole shebang. I even had a face that wasn't too bad to look at if I do say so myself." He chuckled softly.
"So what happened?" Twilight asked.
"At a very young age, I got into magic and it was very difficult for me at the time. You see, I didn't have anypony to teach me magic. My parents and siblings were all Earth Ponies and we lived in a very remote area. So for awhile I had to do things on my own."
"You say you and your family lived in a very remote area. Where was that exactly?"
"We lived just outside the mountains; exactly forty miles away from Canterlot. My home for most of my childhood was a small cottage. It was kind of similar to Fluttershy's, actually. It wasn't much but it was home. To be honest, it was somewhat of a struggle living there." Mystery proceeded to explain to Twilight that the weather there was rather rough back then and the sun's rays weren't any better. The soil around their home was too dry and hard to grow any crops so his father had to make a trip into town every two weeks to get food and supplies. It had worked for a few years.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked; looking up at him.
Mystery sighed. "Well, you see for awhile it was just me and my older brother, Vincent. So it was easy to feed only four mouths. But when my younger brother and three sisters were born, it became really difficult for my parents. Remember my father had to travel to town to get more food so for awhile we had to share what was left.
"My father always said that we would get through this but my mother, on the other hoof, was little . . . concern. She started to notice how sickly and pale we began to look, and how the food pantry was always empty. She begged father for all of us to move into town because living here wasn't healthy for her children. He would brush it off and say, 'If I have to find work to help us get money, I would but we are fine where we are.' She wasn't convince by his statement."
"Sounds like my father," Twilight interjected. "He always wanted to take care of the family."
"Yes," Mystery said quietly. "But unlike your father, my father's decision caused him dearly."
"What do you mean?"
"One day, he went away to get more supplies and food like he always does. It usually takes only two weeks to get to town and back. But on the fourteenth day, he never showed. We all thought he was just a little late but then another day had passed . . . then another . . . then another."
Twilight began to notice how much slowly Mystery was speaking. He continued, "It was day five when we had a knock at the door. Father had a key to the house so he wouldn't be knocking. So for our safety, mother told us to go upstairs. But knowing how pigheaded Vincent and I was, we hid around a corner to see who was there. It was a Pegasus stallion dressed as a Constable. 'Are you Marian Keystone?' he asked. My mother had looked back at him, bewildered, before she answered, 'Yes.' 'I'm terribly sorry, ma'am,' he said, 'but I'm afraid your husband is dead. He died of a heart attack seven days ago.' "
Silence filled the cave. Twilight waited patiently for him to continue. When he didn't, she asked, "What happened next?"
Mystery just sat there for a few moments more. "After he left, my mother began sobbing," he said. "Vincent and I stood stock-still. For a moment I thought the world was crashing down around us. Without somepony strong like father, we wouldn't be able to survive where we lived. So we packed our things and left. It was very difficult living there. Father had taken the wagon with him so we could only take what we could carry on our backs. Mother was silent during the move. It seemed that the life had sucked out of her after father's passing. She did her best to hide it but we knew."
"How was the trip into town? Did you ever visit there before?"
Mystery shook his head. "No. Father never took any of us with him. He said he would when we were older but that never happened. As for your first question, the trip was rather deadly. It was the middle of winter and it was lashing snow, hail, and ice. Mother would've waited but we were out of food and starving in that cottage wasn't an option. So we walked against the cold winds and began our journey to town." Mystery and his family didn't have much money so they only had enough for food and supplies: tools, blankets, herbs and spices, cooking utensils. As for clothing, the Keystone family barely had any. So they were mostly naked when they walked to town. The cold weather slowly took it's toll on them.
"Vincent and I were the strongest. We had to be for mother and our younger siblings. We carried all of our belongings on our backs as mother carried our siblings and we led the way. It was cold, so windy that it was difficult to see. I could've sworn I saw my hooves turn blue. But we didn't stop. We had to survive so we trudged on. Our mother, however, wasn't so lucky."
Twilight swallowed hard. "W-what happened?"
"When we were about a day and four miles from the town, we turned and saw that mother had . . . collapsed. My heart racing, I ran over to her; the sounds of my crying siblings in my ears. I stood there and begged her to get up, to keep going. But she never did. Deep down, I knew she was dead but I wouldn't except that fact. I had angry tears streaming down my face as we all continued on. Why did this have to happen? We were doing so well. Why did it have to be this way? If that wasn't bad enough, my younger siblings started collapsing. One by one, they fell and never rose.
"When we were about two miles from town, my older brother and I were the only ones left. We walked on, determined to finish what we started. To my utter horror, I heard Vincent coughing. I stopped, disbelief coursing through my veins. No, I had thought. Not my brother. My brother who was my role model all my life. My brother who taught me to be brave. My brother . . . who was now dying. I didn't want to turn around; afraid of what I would witness. He was wheezing now. 'Go,' he said raspingly. 'Go, Mysty and continue the family line. You are our last hope now.' He died a moment later."
Twilight began to realize that this was not a good idea. Who was she kidding? It wasn't a good idea to BEGIN with. She did want to hear his story but all she did was cause him more pain. She should've want until he himself was ready to tell her. She rested a hoof on his shoulder which was shaking violently.
"Mystery, stop please. You're shaking . . . " He didn't hear her . . . or refused to hear her. He continued; the words tumbling out in rivulets now.
"I made it into town but I became very sick. I was barely moving when I got there. Everypony could see that something was wrong but it was already too late. I died. The weather's harsh winds and temperatures had finally taken its toll on my body. It was exactly the twenty-third of October when my heart slowed down. But knowing that I failed to continue my family line was more than I could stand . . . so I came back."
"You just came back?"
"Well, when I died, I never moved on. Something was keeping me here. So I woke up; a clatter of bones. Literally. I was in this cave and a young Alicorn mare was watching me. She was tall, about Luna's height with dark ebony red hair and tail. Her eyes were golden and her coat was a dark bronze. I couldn't tell in the dark but I think her horn was disfigured. Her cutie mark, however, was the Infinity symbol. When I asked how I got here and how I was still alive, she only said these words: 'You were made to lead and survive, young one. Remember that.' Then she left. I didn't know what she meant but I put myself back together; making the decision to struck out on my own for the next few hundred years."
Silence once again became their domain. Mystery was laying down now; staring at his reflection longingly. Twilight stared at him; processing what he'd just told her. He witnessed his whole family dying at such a young age. She wondered if that had happened to her family, would she had moved on? Or would she just ended it right there? Hopefully, she would never find out but now that she an Alicorn Princess, she had a longer lifespan than anypony else. Her family and friends would die before her and she would experience the same horror and sadness and loneliness as Mystery did.
She stared at him for a few moments more before saying the only thing she thought was right. "Even though you've been through a lot, I'm glad you came back."
Mystery snapped his head to her; that same feeling of disbelief coursing through him. She was happy that he survived? A pitiful, living dead skeleton like himself? He slowly stood up straight. They stared at each other; violet eyes looking back at dark empty ones. Hesitantly, she took a few steps toward him and kissed him on his muzzle. An unfamiliar warm feeling shot throughout Mystery's body. He stood there, stock-still.
Twilight stepped back again; wondering what he would do next. When he didn't say anything, she blushed and said, "I'm sorry. I-I don't know what came-." Mystery ran at her and pushed Twilight down on her back. Before she could protest, he planted a cool kiss on her lips. Her eyes went wide. Even though he was just teeth and bones, kissing him was more amazing than she ever predicted. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and kissed him back.
Mystery sighed happily. He was so used to feeling pain that he never thought he could experience this . . . feeling before. Being with this mare, he didn't feel lonely or pitiful or even weak. He felt like what a pony should feel. He felt like a Keystone. When they parted, he looked into her eyes and whispered, "I am glad I'd met you, TwiStar."
And for once, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Twilight and dawn, was glad he used that name.