//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The hidden truth of the new teacher // Story: A darkness within a Twilight // by Ultimaexe24 //------------------------------// The next few seconds seemed to move like hours for within the circle stood a glowing figure of a pony but just not just any pony it was Mr. Sparkshine height and all but it was ethereal. As I stared at the ghost like copy it blinked and wave at me like it was alive, I tilted my head as to study it, but it did the same in fact every action I've done it mimicked me from raising a foreleg to sticking out our tongues. I extended a hoof to poke it but before I could the ghostly copy quickly vanished with a low whoosh sound as if some pony blew a candle out. I looked around calmly and....ok I panicked and started looking around frantically, but calmed down when I noticed the shards were no longer changing to different kinds of blue but returned to shifting through all the colors of the spectrum. I glanced up to Mr. Sparkshine (hmm you know now that I think about it he did hate being call Mr due to it making him sound old and he had considered us equals as well as my mentor and friend so I should refer to him as just Sparkshine, heh although he is technically older if not a little younger than Sombra so oh well) and saw he had a fatherly smile and said "That's how you do it, but I must says I am a bit rusty but.." he dropped to one knee with a grunt all while clutching his head as his breathing rasped and labored. I rushed to him after I shouted, "Mr. Sparkshine!" when I got to him I noticed something about him, at that moment his whole body started to fade with a slight flicker as if he was being erased by some unknown force and a few seconds later it stopped. As I was helping him to hooves his breathing was becoming more steady and less labored along with him regaining his composure. Once he was up and he wiping some sweat from his brow, I started to think about what just happened. The sudden pain, the lost of balance and him unsuspectingly fading like that. I've never seen nor heard of anything like that before....well unnatural and quite unnerving. I was brought out of my train of thought when I felt a shaky hoof on my side as Sparkshine said, "Thank you Twilight, I'm fine now. I hope I didn't cause you to worry." I..I was just speechless as I stared at him wide-eyed, I mean there he was having some sort of episodic attack after creating a mana waypoint which resulted in him going through that unusual phenomenon of him fading out like that, (which I may add I was still trying to wrap my head around.) and all he's concerned about is me being worried. Well needless to say I handled it pretty well, like a matured, intelligent, and respectful mare who has gone through training of discipline and patience, and by that I mean I snapped at him after blinking twice, "What me, that's....that's..no forget about me what in the whole wide of Equestria happened!" Sparkshine blinked then opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off before he could say anything, "One minute you're showing me how to create a Waypoint and the next you're having some sort of episode that causes to you be in pain, lose your balance and oh let's not forget about you fading away like you were vanishing out of existence." "Twilight, that's not...." Sparkshine said but I quickly interrupted him so he wouldn't have time to retort back, "No...no..no. Don't you go and tell me that it's not important or I shouldn't worry, I thought you were going to die!" I said to him. He then looked away slightly as his ears folded to the back of his head, so I walked up to him and jabbed a hoof to his chest sharply as I said to him, "Well let me tell you something Mr. Sparkshine, to me it is important and I am going to worry." Tears started to form in my eyes and my vision started to blur, so with a sniff, I wiped them clear and continued, "You may be my new teacher but you're something else to me, something more important than just that." I wiped the fresh tears and continued, "You're a friend, my longest and dearest friend who has been with me as a filly, a friend who played with me and listened to me talk about my hopes and dreams." I jabbed him again, "A friend who taught me things, things that, I'm afraid to admit, but have forgotten for a time such things like life and things that I wouldn't even know from the princess." I jabbed my hoof in his chest again, "A trusted friend who I've trusted with secrets that I've never told any pony not even my family, just as you've trusted me with your secrets of magic, and as that trusted friend I would have thought you would tell me if something was wrong." SParkshine started to raise a hoof as I lowered my head until I was staring at the floor and I continued, "I mean princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria for over a thousand years, and the one mare that I idolized; who I truly respected wouldn't tell me, her own personal student about anything that should have been told, not about Sombra, or Discord." I chuckled, "She couldn't even trust me enough to know that she knew of Nightmare Moon's return, she even went as far as to dismissing my own thoughts of her return on the night of the summer sun celebration or even the fact that Nightmare moon, the mare of the moon was actually her very own sister and co-ruler of Equestria, by Tartarus she even used me just to save the Crystal Empire from King Sombra and then just threw me away like a wad of gum or a used tissue, and after all of that you're here by my side and I'm thankful for that." I wiped my head up to stare at him in the face with anger clearly written all over mine "I understand Twilight but this is..." Sparkshine said but I didn't listen to him. Now I'm not sure if there were tears flowing from my eyes but if they were they had to look like as if some pony turned on a faucet and I didn't care I had been too focused on what I wanted to say and it needed to said, "And now you're telling me that what just happened I..I..should not even worry about it, and that it's not important. What, you expect me not to worry about it. Well, news flash Mr. Sparkshine, if you haven't figured it out yet I'm going to worry about it. Something is wrong and I think I have the right to know about it so I can help you." I stood there breathing heavy through my clenched teeth, with the look of rage staring at him. Sparkshine let out a long and staggered sigh and he did something that caught me totally by surprise, he pulled me into a hug. Heh and just like that all that anger and frustration just melted away, vanished as if it was never there and what replaced was a feeling of embarrassment and fluster. He remained like that for few moments until he said, "My dear Twilight you're right and I'm sorry about that, you have to understand for one who has been alone for so many years I have forgotten that my actions can affect others." He released his embrace and looked at me with a slight smile, I stared into his eyes and what I saw were the eyes that were quite similar to the Princess. They were the eyes of somepony who lived a long life and saw many things through it, as well as a hint of worry and of something he was hiding something, and whatever he was hiding shook him to the core. Sparkshine wrapped a leg around me and said, "This old stallion shall tell you everything, but first, come let's get some tea to calm ourselves hmm." I simply nodded and he led me to the living room. Moments later I'm sitting at a large wooden table on top of red fluffy cushion located in the middle of the living room, a small cup of tea in front of me giving off the aroma of some flavor that I could not place but it smelled nice. I grabbed the cup with my magic and took a sip, it was delicious but it gave me a hint of familiarity, I think I had this flavor of tea before with the princess. As I place the cup down I look in across from me, there was Sparkshine sipping tea from his cup with such finesse you'd think he was a Canterlot noble, Rarity would probably be head over hooves over him, well if he had on a fancy outfit. I chuckled to myself at that thought as Sparkshine finished his sip as said, "Ah, Crystal Earl. After all these years you're still my favorite flavor, and always good to enjoy among friends and calm the nerves." I answered with a simple nod as I took another sip from my cup. He was right it was quite enjoyable and it made me relax a little, as I think of it now maybe it because of the little bit of honey that was put into it I don’t know, in fact even now I still can’t get the tea to taste just as good as it was then but I’m moving from my story, hehe I tend to do that for some reason I wonder why, anyway back to what I was saying. As I was taking another sip from my cup I was looking at Sparkshine, and with his body language I could tell he was stalling or for the most part he hoped I would drop the situation and move on with my lessons. Well that wasn’t going to happen, so I placed my cup down and said to him, “Mr. Sparkshine I know you’re trying to stall on telling me on why that happened.“ For a moment he was staring into his cup motionless as a statue, perhaps in deep thought, but he closed his eyes, followed by a deep sigh and said, “You are right Twilight I am stalling, not because I’m trying to hide anything from you, it’s just after all these years I still haven’t figured out if it’s true or not.” He laughed a bit as he held his head with a hoof and continued, “All these years I couldn’t find an answer to it but..." he paused, "No that's not quite right it's perhaps I’ve just been in denial of the truth that’s right been front of me, just been refusing to see it because of my long life of isolation in here in this place of great knowledge and wisdom." I remember how scared I was becoming as his demeanor changing from the look of a kind and gentle stallion to a crazed and broken stallion. His mane was disheveled and shagged with some split ends, it looked as if he never brush or a comb to it, his eyes although wide open would twitch every few seconds, looking at them you could see they gave off a look of a crazed pony who could snap and attack you with how small his pupils shrank, and that smile he head just gave me chills down my spine, and I must say all together just gave him a look of and insane pony yes that true but for some reason it brought back memories of my most lowest and embarrassing incident that mostly every pony calling it the "Smartypants incident" I was sill getting looks from ponies even after two weeks had gone by. I sat there as he going on about, "The truth was right there but I kept on pushing it away like it was nothing" and "Now that she saw it happen it's concrete now, there's no excuse." I remember thinking if this was how I must have looked and was acting on that day that everypony called the smartypants event. I quickly shook those thoughts out as I said to myself, "No this is not the time for that." I got up and went to Sparkshine as he was mumbling to himself, grabbed him and with one swift motion smacked him across the muzzle leaving a light red mark on the spot I hit him, he slowly placed a hoof to it and stared at me blankly. I took a few steps back and said, "I...I'm sorry Mr. Sparkshine I just didn't know what else to do, you were just losing yourself and have an episode and..and..I'm so sorry" Sparkshine removed his hoof and stared at if for a moment chuckled then smiled and said, "You know if my wife was here knowing her she would have done the same thing and shout get a hold of yourself you moron." He brushed his hoof through his mane, at this time I got up the nerve and asked, "Are you alright Mr. Sparkshine?" He wiped a tear that I haven't noticed earlier turned to me and answered, "Yes Twilight, and sorry about that but I am fine now and thank you I truly needed that." He straightened himself up and continued, "Once again I am truly sorry for that but it's because of what I'm about to tell you is the reason I was acting that way, and I just hope you don't think of me any different from how you are now." "What, treat you any differently. Why would I do that" I asked with my head tilted "It's because..well for you see..." Sparkshine started but he stopped, he looked to me and opened his mouth to say something but closed it, I could see he was starting to tremble slightly. He then placed his right foreleg around his arm and squeezed it to calm himself down and seconds later his trembling stopped and he said "I don't think I'm the real Sparkshine." "Wait what. Not the real you, you're not making any sense. Maybe it's the stress of everything that's getting to you, you should rest and..." I said but he quickly interrupted me, "No not me, I mean I'm me but not the real Sparkshine, I believe I'm just a...a....a copy, or an imprint of the real Sparkshine." I opened my mouth to say something but he quickly raised a hoof he continued, "Before ask, no I'm not projecting myself to you and I'm not a ghost well I don't think so due to the fact ghost don't eat." "I...I know that." I said with my cheeks puffed and crossed my forelegs and blushed slightly, "and besides, there are no such things as ghost." "I wouldn't be so sure about that my student, one must see all this world has to offer before making an assumption like that," Sparkshine said with a chuckle but then his whole demeanor changed and with a heavy sigh he continued, "Perhaps I should tell you about what happened after the whole incident with the princess" I simply nodded and he did. He retold me of what happen up to the part where he returned here, but it was at this point he said something that got me thinking about this place. "I've told you that I figured out a way to bring my tower here right?" I simply nodded when in truth I had forgotten. "Well upon entering I felt that something was wrong, not just with me but with the tower. So I searched around and found that three more floors had appeared, all filled with books that I've never seen nor collected. I quickly went outside the tower to check it's height, but once outside I saw that it was the same height from when I brought it here, the same five floors. It was baffling to say the least I chalked it up as this place following it's own rules, I went back inside and found that all of the furniture were rearranged." he let out sad chuckle as he continued, "To see that happen in just a few short minutes I.... uh what was that word that your friend Rainbow Dash had said once, hmmmm ah yes I began to spaz out as it were. I didn't notice but I was slowly becoming unhinged as more and more unexplained things started to happen like I would write out formulas for spells I was developing, I would take my eyes away from it for a moment and then it would be either erased, finished or even completely changed into a whole new formula or when I made a sandwich and place it on the table one moment and then the next it would be moved to another place with a bite taken out of it." I stared at him as I recanted more and more of these incidents, he had a mask of calmness on him but there were things that I noted that he was about to lose it again such as how one of his eyes would twitch and he would shake for second. As he told me of each incident his mask would brake little by little like a tiny pieces were being chipped away but it was what he told me next was what really broke him but that's for another part of I'll leave for later, but all in all I reassured him that no matter who or what he is, he'll still be my teacher and most importantly my friend and no matter what turns out to be true he will always be my friend and I'll be there for him, with that said he regained his composure and soon we resumed my training.