One Last Chance

Myst awoke. Exhaling heavily as he tensed his muscles and began to roll out of his bed, tossing aside the covers. He teetered over the edge of the mattress before falling for a brief moment and feeling his face impact against the floor. He suddenly felt a sense of dull pain come rushing in, his body reminding him that he was a total idiot. It gradually intensified as his senses returned and he worked hard to stand himself up. He checked the time, 2:41, and proceeded to make himself some coffee, as there was a coffee maker in one of the cabinets. Likely to help ponies just like him, that couldn't seem to get going in the mornings. He let the coffee sit as he turned on all of the lights, blinded by the sudden intake of colour. During that split second when the light entered his eyes, he thought he could see his shadow, but... it was too small. It didn't look like a full grown pony. And it's mane looked like... The lights finished turning on, with his eyes quickly adjusting, casting aside any sense of fear Myst had just felt. He rubbed his eyes, glancing over to where his shadow was. Yeah, it was just him. Myst ignored the strange feeling he had just experienced as he stumbled over to his drawer slowly and clumsily, collapsing onto the cabinet, resting one hoof on it before feeling around for the key. He grabbed the small object and wrestled the drawer open, rifling around for one of his notebooks. He aggressively ripped out the old and worn out book and threw it on the area rug, collapsing beside it as he pulled it open, only to be met with a heavily encrypted text. Of course, it wasn't that hard for him to decipher, considering he grew up with it, but if somepony else got their hooves on it, it could take days to figure out, long enough for him to get it back. He slowly flipped the pages of the book, looking around at nothing in particular. This particular book was a history text, one of the most complete and accurate in Equestria. Historians would probably pay hundreds of thousands to get their hooves on it. Myst happened to find that idea inspiring. Somepony willing to go so far for the sake of their passion. A frown crept onto his face as he closed the book, the old parchment giving off a somewhat loud clap when closed. He tried to throw the book back into the drawer, nonchalantly playing a game of hoofball with ancient artifacts, but missed completely. Instead, it landed near the base of the cabinet, sliding slightly under. Myst knew he should fix that, but didn't really feel like it. Instead, he grabbed a grey, somewhat tattered hoodie from the closet, one of the few items he kept with him. It was old and losing its colour, but he never intended to get rid of it. After all, what kind of a pony would dispose of something so valuable? He slipped it on, leaving the hood down, as he was only wearing it to keep himself warm.

Myst gently opened the door of his room, doing the best he could to not wake anypony else, as he was sure the majority of the hotel would not be too fond of waking up at his usual hour. He snaked his way down to the lobby and opened up the doors, feeling a blast of cold air hit his face, which served to reawaken the pain from falling on it earlier. He tried his best to ignore the constant biting sensation and started off on a walk. Where? He wasn't sure, but it beat reading until the sun came up.

Myst really was quite bored. And there was nothing to be done about it. Frown still plastered on his face, Myst decided to head into the park. He took in the sights of the trees and plants, the very faint smells of flowering plants working their way into his nostrils. He noticed many small animals that were not concerned with his presence, simply continuing their nighttime routine. It was quite shocking to him, seeing so many animals still awake at this hour. His frown turned into more of a neutral expression, the sight of nature warming him up a bit. He sat against a tree, letting his mind wander a bit.

'You bored?' The voice had returned, but Myst was aware of its origin and purpose, so its presence was not bewildering in the slightest.

'Yeah.' He responded, hoping it may have some way to kill the time.

'Would a story help? I have many to tell.'

'Sure. Why not?' The voice vanished out of his head, along with the dull ringing that constantly accompanied it, before it returnd no less than a minute later.

'Ah, yes, here's a good one.'

"What do you mean he's gone?"

"He left early in the morning, we had no idea."

"But that's your job! All I asked was that you keep an eye on him!"

"Hugo can take care of himself. He's full grown now. I'm sure wherever he is, he's living a good life."

"Princess Celestia. We may have a problem."

"And what might that be, sir?"

"We think he took the books."

Myst recalled that memory in perfect detail, down to expression on each of their faces.

'Yeah. She ate like fifty litres of cake that day.' Myst recalled.

'She was really stressed out.'

'Well, can you really blame her? He took the notes.'

'Yes. I suppose that would warrant panic.' All this talk was reigniting very strong feelings from Myst. Images from his earlier years popping into his head like slides. An idea suddenly overtook him. It had nothing to do with the conversation, but it would certainly give him something to do.

'Hey, I just thought of something I can do!' Myst said with obvious enthusiasm.

'Don't have fun.' The voice remarked.

'Shut up. Nopony asked you.' Myst said, the damage from its words already evident in his mood.

'See you later.'

Myst decided to find a twenty-four-hour shopping centre of some sort so he could endlessly browse the aisles. Who knew? Perhaps he'd find something he wanted. Though the chances were low. He had about twelve personal possessions, everything else was stored elsewhere, or had been lost at some point. He then proceeded to find a single store that was open and tear through the aisles looking for something he might buy. He then went back through again, trying to identify the cheapest item, along with the most expensive. He managed to fish around the store all the way to sunrise. It was then that he decided to get back to his motel room in case housekeeping came along and found his books. He trotted out of the store and headed back to the motel, which was only about a twelve minute walk away. He walked past two ponies in the lobby and shut his door. He was feeling rejuvenated from doing nothing for so long and decided he might even add something to his notes. He flipped back open his book and tried his very best to recall any signigfigant event in Equestrian history he could write about. He didn't get very far.

Knock knock.

His train of thought was completely derailed after somepony began feverishly knocking on his door. Who could that be?

"Room service!" The pony called from the other side of the door. When Myst had checked in, he had been surprised to learn that the motel offered room service. Then again, one could hardly call it a motel. It was more like a small hotel. Apparently, with all that had transpired in Ponyville over the last few years, along with its rich culture and variety of top of the line stores and restaurants, Ponyville had become a very popular travel location. Thus many savvy business ponies had erected hotel structures in the area. They had been kept small though, to fit the style of architecture. Myst couldn't have cared less though. As long as they continued to offer ridiculously overpriced and highly caffeinated tea, he was fine. Myst opened the door, only to be met with the last face he wanted to see. Well, second last. It wasn't room service. He should've guessed from that poor impersonation of a Canterlot accent. Standing at the door, were Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Myst didn't even blink. He just slowly shut the door…

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves against the door. Myst didn't open it for her, he couldn't risk another conversation with any of those six friends. He walked to his window and slid it open, grabbing his notes from the drawer and stuffing them inside his saddlebags. Shimmying through the crack, soundless, he scaled down from the third floor to the first, nearly slipping and plummeting to what he could only imagine would be a broken leg. He sauntered into the foyer to check out of the hotel. As he was walking to the front counter, he noticed the mare working there suddenly flick her head up, standing at attention. Did she hear something he couldn't? If he had to guess Rainbow Dash had most likely tried to break the door down. What a fool. She had walked into the living space of a practical ticking time bomb-

Dear Celestia. He was staying in a motel. He could be such an idiot sometimes. 'Oh, I don't want anypony to get caught up in the disasters that actively seek me out, so I'm going to stay in a small building, surrounded by other small buildings, with dozens, maybe hundreds of ponies in them, I'm sure the tornado, or whatever the calamity would be, will just ignore them. That will help, certainly.'

Myst walked up to the counter, he needed to get out of there. He was threatening lives with his presence.

"I'd like to check out early." He said. He checked out of the motel, allowing them to keep any extra bits he had given them, and decided to head somewhere completely devoid of pony life, right after lunch. Myst wasn't really sure what he wanted to eat, so he headed down to Sugarcube Corner. He liked that place, though he rarely ate there. He needed to watch his weight, plus, sugar made him sluggish. Myst realised he was going to have issues not getting recognised by somepony. Fluttershy had obviously told her friends he had ran off, though he had no clue how they had managed to track him. Were they the ponies he saw in the lobby? Had he mentioned staying in a motel to Fluttershy? He zipped up his hoodie and walked along the street. Luckily for him it obstructed his face from everypony's sight. He got to the store within minutes, with no interruptions. He pushed open the doors of Sugarcube Corner, walking up to the counter, and glancing over the menu. It had changed a bit since the last time he had visited. How long had it been, a week? He decided on his order and approached Mrs Cake.

"Hi there, could I get... six apple turnovers?" he asked.

"Certainly." She said. "One moment please." She ducked behind the counter and soon returned with his order. "I'm sorry, do I know you from somewhere?" She asked.

"Um, well, I wouldn't think so! Because... this is my first time at a store- I mean, this store! I mean… Uh… No?" He stuttered out.

"Myst?" She asked, dumbfounded as to why the pony that had walked off from all his friends without so much as a goodbye was now ordering food from a pony he must have known had been informed of his absence. "Fluttershy is worried sick about you Myst, why'd you run off?" She didn't get very deep into her thoughts though because Myst was already running off with his order. The money was on the table and Myst was gone within a second. He ran as fast as he could around a corner, disappearing from town. He sprinted for a little before he slowed down near the border of Ponyville. He walked along the grassy fields outlying the town and found himself a spot he could eat at. He pulled out a thick black cloth out of his hoodie and rested it on the grass. He didn't want to get his legs all wet when he sat down. The time was sunset, and Myst was feeling surprisingly at peace. He assumed that was what came with having next to no responsibilities. All he had to do was find a way to keep the town safe. There was no way the disaster would be natural, which meant that it would most likely be… an angry mob? Maybe a flood? There was a river nearby, so maybe it would be natural. Either way, he needed to get to work. Right after he ate dinner, well, not dinner, but still. He needed something to eat… Yeah. He did need to eat. Myst looked up from his meal, noticing the small figure of a pony highlighting an area far away. Despair creeped over him in an instant. Why was he feeling these emotions so strongly all of the sudden? Was it because of how much he had strayed from his path? He had let himself forget. Look at him. There he was, having dessert for dinner, sitting on a blanket, enjoying a sunset? He didn't get to enjoy trivial things like that. He just didn't. He had made that decision years ago. It was over. No more. He tossed the blanket aside and threw away his food, travelling back down to town. He needed to plan ahead, for the calamity, he needed to minimise casualties.

Myst walked around town in his hoodie, still content to hide his identity. Where could he find sand? Sand, sand, sand, sand, sand… sand. He guessed there weren't any stores that specialised in sand. Was there a fabric store? He needed to find a source of the small coarse material, but there weren't any beaches in Ponyville, and that would take too long. He guessed he was just going to have to place an order. He headed to Derpy's house, the loctation of which he had actually learned from Fluttershy when he had lodged with her. Turns out the two of them were old friends. Not bothering to knock, he opened up the door. What he saw both shocked him and pleased him. Derpy and the Doctor were sitting on her sofa, with the Doctor wrapping his arm around her-

"Oh," Myst said, "hello." The two stumbled back.

"Wha?" The Doctor visibly jumped, hitting the ground very ungracefully.

"Myst?" Derpy said, bewildered by his sudden presence in her home. "What are you doing here?" Myst smiled knowingly.

"Just, checking in." He said. "I see you two are having a good time." Myst, unable to control himself, began grinning wickedly.

"Um… Did you need something?" The Doctor asked, pushing himself up into a standing position, along with Derpy, who hopped off the couch. Obviously, the brown stallion thought Myst required his services.

"Yes, I do, but not from you, Whooves, from Derpy." He said. The Doctor looked quite flustered, but also very surprised. Myst guessed that it was probably just an occupational hazard. Ponies probably came to him all the time asking for help. But it was Ponyville's local mailmare that he required at that particular moment. "I need you to deliver a message to the Canterlot Bulk Shipping Association." Derpy was a bit confused, but she just nodded. "Tell them that uh..." Myst struggled for a second to come up with a convincing name for a building company. He never was good with lying, or fake names, or fake anything. Fake IDs had been a particularly nasty pain. "That TLC Contractors needs a mass shipment of sand. Around 1800 kilos if they could manage. Here's the money in advance." He pulled out a small pouch, with a few coins in it. Derpy was only getting more confused by the second. She tugged open the pouch, there was no way that would be enough-

Geez. Were those ten thousand bit coins? Derpy visibly gawked at the sheer quantity. Sixty thousand bits! That sure was a lot of money. Was he trying to bankrupt himself? "Wow." She said, all other phrases seeming to flee her mind. Myst must've run some sort of construction company. There was something odd in the pouch though. A piece of circular plastic, about the size of a large coin. Grey, almost translucent. It had Myst's cutie mark burnt into it. Although Derpy was unaware of this fact, she had never noticed his mark before. She thought it might be in there by mistake, so she handed it back to him. "Here." She said. "I think you might've accidentally put this in the pouch."

"No." Myst said. "I always send that with my orders. Reminds them that their top customer wants his order fast." Derpy couldn't believe that Myst was trusting Ponyville's clumsiest mailmare with such a massive order. "Also, remind them to send the order to Ponyville, or just outside if there's no space. In large barrels, one meter by two meters." Myst was being very specific. But that was fine. She could remember that. She was certainly clumsy, but she could recite every single day it had rained or snowed in the last two years, her memory was just that sharp. She hesitated to take the money at first, it was such a large amount. What if she lost it? What if she got lost herself? But Myst trusted her. "Don't worry about the money. I trust you with it. I'm actually surprisingly well off for a substitute teacher. I run a construction business on the side." Derpy was relieved at this. He wasn't throwing all his money away, and he had full confidence in her. She pulled the pouch tight and set it on her table. "I don't need you to do it tonight. You can take it tomorrow. If you don't mind that is." It seems a bit of Fluttershy had rubbed off on him.

"Sure." Derpy replied. Myst smiled weakly. Feigning happiness was always a struggle.

"Thanks." He said. He began to walk towards the door before he was stopped by the Doctor.

"Myst." He said, walking towards him with a look of concern. "I heard you stopped lodging with Fluttershy. Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"Don't worry about me," Myst replied. "I found somewhere much nicer to stay." He thought he was getting a lot better at the whole lying thing. His only plan when it came to finding somewhere to sleep was to lay down on the grass.

"No, you haven't. In fact, I'm near certain that your only plan for tonight is sitting in a field." The Doctor said. Myst was dumbfounded. He thought he'd actually fool somepony that time. "You know if you need somewhere to stay you can sleep in the TARDIS." Myst was definitely not staying there.

"No thanks. To be honest I think she kinda hates me." Myst said. "The last time I slept there she cut off the supply of oxygen in my room."

"Well, your presence bugs her." The Doctor said. "She thought you were a threat. So she got rid of you."

"Tried," Myst said. "she tried to get rid of me. Okay? I know you think I'm helpless, but I'm really quite fine-" Myst held himself proudly, trying to assert his strength, and capability to support himself. His friend noticed this, a frown forming on his face before it clicked. It was back to that then.

"Right." The Doctor said quietly. He stepped out of Myst's way, finally understanding what he was doing. He smiled gravely. "Have a good time then." Myst pushed through the door, but as he went to leave, The Doctor put a hoof on his shoulder, pushing down hard, demonstrating his own strength. "You can't blame yourself forever, Myst." Myst stared at his friend coldly, his icy eyes burning holes through the Doctor's pupils.

"Yes I can." He shrugged him off and walked away disappearing into the cold night. His friend did nothing, he simply shut the door slowly and weakly, pushing his back against it and slouching in defeat.

"Doctor, why did you let him leave? He obviously has nowhere to stay!" Derpy shouted. The Doctor looked at her sympathetically, craning his neck as if it was some great struggle.

"Derpy. Myst's goals aren't straightforward like the rest of us. His desires are much different from what you would expect. He doesn't want a high paying job or a nice house. He didn't leave his friends because he wasn't happy... He left because he was. It's no use, I've tried,

but I'm afraid he might be lost to us forever."

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie walked into Twilight's castle. Fluttershy had enlisted the help of her friends with tracking down their elusive guest. The two trotted towards the map room, irritated with their inability to track him down. The only ones there were Twilight and Fluttershy, who were gathered around the map.

"Did you find him?"

"Well, yeah, obviously, but he somehow he got away!" Rainbow Dash said.

"I think he went through the window." Pinkie added.

"Then why wasn't he outside the motel when we checked?"

"I dunno, he's pretty sneaky." She said in a suspicious tone. Fluttershy looked utterly defeated, and Twilight was absorbing every word the two said. She seemed to be the only one who didn't think Myst was telling them everything. "He did leave something there." Pinkie Pie continued. "It's an old notebook or something. I can't figure out what it says. Maybe you can give it a try, Twilight?" She pulled the book out and tossed it to her. Twilight carefully opened the very old text, trying to be respectful of its delicacy and age, only to be greeted by a seemingly random assortment of words, some of them not even normal Equestrian. She flipped through the book and stopped when she found a spot highlighted. She quickly flipped through the rest of the book and distinguished that it was the only section highlighted. The text read as follows.

Zelferg (eer) (abs (s) esquire pub esquire qi (squieusuiei) yenfog (eo) alenzir (lei) ): Ferelirq. (el) have qeere. (veee) cevapriff (i) Pryori fogiven (oiorie) naff (af) no (o) ebb lonely (b#2,oe,l#2) flabby quevre (la,b#2,ue) Gava zir (aai) boss (os)

freive pore (e#2,o,e#3), 0031 OZR- 0001OZR. Fan gang haf (anaa) heck back (ekck) quev freeze viffiny: (uereeeii) Tyrar kyeny (yky) buse (ue) guard (ad) Neizil. (ii) Quevif pour bag vah req (ueio,u#2,r,e#2) freiv per (e#2) nase gre (ae) nap (p)

vapor veq rag (ore) jave guru (aer,u#2) rare zeal (ee,a#2) trap rent by. (p,t#2,b) Rag veritable (it,a#2,ble) food hanq (ooa) queer naq (ueea) been (e#2,n) zavn. (a) Pheel ragu (lu) fog nghf: (o) ZaVN (a) (Hand oy red (ded) gab (a) crest bez (t) qui hogl (uio)

vaq res vave grayl (eea) )

That made... absolutely no sense. Twilight assumed it was encrypted, running a few of the words through every cypher she knew. A caesarian shift, Rot13, morse, monoalphabetic substitution. Nothing seemed to work. What could he have written down, and, more importantly, why was she trying so hard to pry away at his private possessions? Was it because she still thought something was wrong? Regardless, she was going to hold onto this for a little while, to see if she could make some progress. Especially on that highlighted section. She got the impression that part was very important to Myst, plus, if he valued that book, he'd come looking for it, and they could ask him some questions, like why he would so heavily encrypt a simple notebook. What was in there?

"Um, Twilight? Are you sure you should be looking through that? It might be personal." Fluttershy spoke up, not enjoying the clear invasion of her friend's privacy.

"Fluttershy, I know you don't want to hear this, but there's a chance Myst could be dangerous. And if he is, I have to find out. I promise I'll only decrypt this little section here." She gestured with her hoof to the highlighted section. "It's just enough to find out a little about him. Chances are he's probably harmless, but I'm just double checking."

"Yeah. Harmless."

"Did you say something?"

"It's nothing." Fluttershy hung her head low, a certain amount of anger building up inside her quickly snuffed out by guilt. She thought about Myst, what he looked like, how he felt. She doubted he had many friends at any point in his life, it was just not an option for him. She had been one of the few ponies he trusted with his secrets, but she always wanted more, she was never content to just allow him his fleeting moment of happiness. So now he was back where he had always been, alone. Was it just fate? No, she couldn't believe that. Nopony should ever be alone, even if maybe it was for the best. She zoned out from the conversation around her, as he thought about those four or five times Myst actually had smiled. They were very special for her, they always filled her with this amazing sense of warmth and fulfilment. She wanted to feel that again. She was going to feel that again. She felt her strength return to her from an unknown source, determination to give that pony a home reignited her sense of duty. "I'm gonna go help look for him. He must be pretty lonely, out there on his own."

"We'll meet back up in a few hours, okay?" Twilight said, looking up from the book briefly to wish Fluttershy well on her venture, before diving back into her primary interest, deciphering the book.

"What are you, Myst?" She asked, to nopony in particular, as they had all taken flight to retrieve their lost comrade. Twilight decided she would need some help with the code, so she called for Spike to write a letter to her pupil and occasional duelling partner, Starlight.She flipped through the book again, looking for any familiar symbols, rather than words. She did find one, near the back, that caught her interest immediately. A magical rune. She recognised it, her suspicion growing by the second. "I know you're hiding something. And if you lay one hoof on my friends, it'll be the biggest mistake of your life."

Myst walked to the very edge of Ponyville, staring out at that vast horizon teeming with possibility. It called to him, begging for him to run through its fields, trek through its forests, to just run away. That was the first thing he was going to do, for sure. He didn't care who would try to stop him. It was his for the taking. Any day now. The sun was gone and all that was left was blackness at this point. Not ideal searching conditions, but he doubted it would stop his friends from trying. He shook their memory from his head, prioritising forgetting them as much as possible. Myst was feeling overwhelmed by the odds. Fluttershy was still looking out for him. Did that mean it would be too late? Was their emotional bond too strong for the spell to ignore her? She was doomed. He was going to have to do everything in his power to protect her, along with all of her friends. He decided to still spend those few days remaining away from them, just to help weaken the spell. He knew that it was probably going to be immensely powerful, sensing all of his positive emotions. In all honesty, he'd get rid of them if he could. But he just couldn't. Myst decided to get some sleep, there was no point in denying the nightmares that plagued his mind their fill. He laid himself down on the wet grass and drifted off to sleep. Thinking of all the ponies he had let down, all of them.

It wasn't snowing anymore. In fact, there was nothing around him. There was nothing, anywhere. How fitting. He thought. He looked down and saw himself, his reflection, staring back at him, shaking its head.

"I know." He said.

"I don't think you do."

Myst found himself violently jarred awake, his muscles catching fire and his head collapsing in on itself. He fell back down onto the grass, doing his very best to suppress the screams of pain he was uttering. He felt the pain slowly start to subside after a moment of sheer agony, before it disappeared completely. Myst was sweating and breathing far more heavily than was healthy, but the worse part was that he felt completely awake, no longer drowsy or tired, simply wide awake. He doubted he had slept longer than five minutes. He pushed himself up, only to be greeted with a worse sight, a little bit more of his sanity slipping away. Before him stood a young pony, no older than nine or ten. Myst knew his age to the day however. Ten years, fifty-three days. He was red, inheriting that dominant gene from his father. His mane, on the other hoof, was a blue colour, very light and colourful. Myst's eyes were reduced to slits, and he found himself backing up slowly.

"What's the matter, Myst? It's just me, don't you remember?"

"Yes..."

Myst turned to run, attempting to escape the pony, only to be met with four other sets of eyes. He felt his heart expand infinitely, threatening to snap right out of his chest. His mind was no longer functioning properly. He only sought to escape, all logic and reason evacuating his head swiftly. He tried to run through the only gap left, but there was one more group of ponies that sought his attention, another group of five. They were battered and beaten, one of them with a particularly brutal looking scar directly down her chest. Myst found himself surrounded, the ten of them forming a semicircle, closing in around him. They knew he couldn't run. What would they do to him? Could they even do anything? Myst couldn't bear to find out, his breath coming out as short gasps as he searched for an escape route back to Ponyville. There wasn't one, however. That left him with one option and one alone. Behind him lay the border of Ponyville, but more than that, an escape route. He looked back to the group of ponies, only to see one of them nearly upon him. He tripped over his own hooves, stumbling backwards, quivering as they all inched closer to him. He had to do it now, or who knows what kind of horror they would inflict upon his already broken mind. He stood up, quickly as he could, nearly losing his footing again. Looking them all dead in the eyes, he ran through the scenario again in his head. He knew what was to come, and it was painful. Myst cast all doubt from his mind as one of them reached for him. He yelled at the top of his lungs, preparing himself for the pain he was about to experience. Then, with a single swift movement, he swung his head and shoulder towards the end of the town's domain. He felt an impact as he was stopped dead in his tracks. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. His body, stopped, the force and energy of the impact transferring directly into his body. His body strained under the pressure as a surge of powerful energy shook his body, acting as an aftershock to the initial impact. Then, in a split second, Myst was flung back by a powerful current, sailing several feet in the air before landing abruptly on the ground. Finally, under no stress, Myst could feel unconsciosness grip him like a vice, ushering him quietly into a world of black...

-4 Days Left-