One Last Chance

Myst stared at Fluttershy for a few seconds, his eyes slowly fading back to their icy blue colour, almost disappearing completely before they returned to normal. He turned around, and he ran. He ran as quickly as he could, barreling through the door. The yellow one had seen him. He had to plan this out, she would have questions. His mind raced as he ran through Ponyville. He ran out onto a hill on the edge of town. For some reason, as he ran up onto the hill, he felt different than usual, happy? No, it wasn't happiness, it was more... excitement. His life had been very, monotonous as of late, so this actually made a small part of him excited. For the moment, he just sat on the hill examining the stars. He always had liked the stars, they were beautiful on their own, but spectacular when they all revealed themselves at once. He let out a long sigh. He wished his family would come visit. They were always so good to him. So, his calendar was still on the table, he should probably have retrieved that before he left. He estimated he had approximately twelve minutes before somepony found him, but thankfully this would keep Fluttershy from looking at his calendar. So what was he to do? He honestly shouldn't have cared as much as he did, but regardless, he did. He walked to the very edge of the town, the border of where the town and the outside world met. He sat there for a second, feeling the grass against his hooves. He needed to come to a decision on what to do with Fluttershy.

"Damn it all." he said to himself. "This wasn't supposed to happen." He wished things could go back to before his... road trip. Luckily he didn't fall too deep into his chasm of thought as he was soon approached by a vaguely familiar face. A grey, blonde-maned pegasus with one yellow eye facing towards him and another, wandering off.

"Hey there. Aren't you the frozen pony from the fountain?" She asked, approaching Myst.

"Yeah." He said. Recalling where he had seen the pony before, she was part of the group of friends that had retrieved Twilight. "I remember you, thanks for helping me back there, but I don't think I ever caught your name."

"Uh. Well, I've actually got a couple different names." She said. "You can call me Derpy. It's kind of a nickname my friends gave me." Myst chuckled. Derpy made a sound indicating that she didn't understand, but Myst just told her it was nothing.

"It's nice to meet you, Derpy." He said. "May I ask why you're out so late?"

"I like to take walks at night, the stars are really pretty." She responded

"Yes, they are quite spectacular aren't they? They remind me of an old friend actually." Myst sighed quietly. "Well, I'm glad I could meet a fellow admirer of the stars." Unfortunately, the two didn't get to chat any longer as Myst's friends came running along, Twilight heading up the group.

"Myst!" They all shouted. Myst panicked for a second. They were a lot quicker than he had expected. An outsider wouldn't know it, but inside he was slightly nervous, which was big for him. He needed more time. He needed more time. No, he had enough time. He broke down the facts… Fluttershy had seen his eyes, glowing. He could easily explain that. If they had seen his calendar, well, it's not like they would understand it anyway. He turned to face them, dawning the same expression he had at the hospital, at the cottage, at the fountain… indifference. It was practically all anypony ever got to see of him, the confines of his mind were a dangerous place, so he made sure nopony ever saw what was in there.

"Myst? What happened? Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked as she was the only one present during the incident. Myst had come to a decision. Lie his dull white flank off. Unfortunately, Myst was a very bad liar.

"Well, uh… I have a medical condition. Yup. Medical condition." He said, trying to maintain his posture. Fluttershy looked closely at Myst.

"No. You don't." She said. Myst looked at her. He thought for a second. The others didn't know the whole story. He had lied too much around Fluttershy, and she had caught on to the pattern, the very predictable pattern.

"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but what's going on here?" Twilight asked, "All you've told us is that something was very wrong, what is it?" Myst was eager not to spread any information, couldn't avoid Fluttershy, it was inevitable. He looked at her, and made an indication with his head, signalling that he wanted to talk with her elsewhere. The two walked away from the group briskly, with Myst turning to face Fluttershy.

"You have been very good to me Fluttershy." He said "You've given me a home, and you've been a wonderful host. But… what you saw there, it was not meant to be seen. I will explain as best I can. I only ask that you put your friends at ease. Tell them that I explained my 'medical condition' to you, and I'd prefer not to talk about it." Fluttershy really wanted to know what happened to Myst, but she also wanted her friends to know. She wouldn't go behind Myst's back, that would be cruel. So she could either say no and try to make him explain to everypony, which he wouldn't, or she could find out for herself. In the end her curiosity got the better of her.

"Okay, I'll tell them you're fine." She said. Myst nodded his approval. She briefly walked over and discussed Myst's fake condition with them, before meeting back up with him. The others, along with Derpy, walked off and the two walked back to Fluttershy's cottage.

"Can I ask something?" Fluttershy and Myst were sitting down on Fluttershy's green couch.

"Go ahead." Myst replied, readying himself for the worst.

"What is that medicine you bought for?" Fluttershy asked. Thank goodness. That was something he could answer, truthfully, and it might even satisfy her curiosity somewhat.

"It helps me sleep." He said. "I get nightmares almost constantly, and the medication helps… sometimes. Other times it does nothing. Usually though, usually if I'm exhausted, completely exhausted, I can sleep without interruptions. Tonight wasn't a good night for me. That's why I was up so late." Fluttershy looked sympathetic.

"That must be horrible." She said.

"Yeah." Myst said, remembering all of the nightmares. They never left. They were always burnt into his memory. He could recall every single one of them perfectly. "That's why I was up. I needed to relax. There are very few activities that actually help me relax, and one of them is working on my calendar." Fluttershy was only more concerned. What kind of calendar do ponies have to work on? All they do is tell you what day is coming up. She wanted to know.

"What calendar?" She asked. She never expected an answer, but an answer she got.

"See for yourself." He said, bringing her to the calendar, peeling the circular parchment open. He hoped she wouldn't understand, this calendar was very valuable to him, and he didn't want anypony messing with it.

The inside of the paper was something Fluttershy had never seen before. Rings ran along the paper, getting smaller and smaller as they centred, and in the centre, laid Myst's cutie mark, barely visible. As for the content of the rings, they contained a language completely unfamiliar to her. Even the symbols, most likely letters, were foreign. Incredibly detailed imagery flooded the rings, some of it so small it was barely recognisable. When she looked at the entire thing all at once though, it was one of the most beautiful paintings she had ever seen in her life. Myst broke the silence.

"I'm more of a musician than an artist, but years of working on the same piece gives you some time to perfect your style." Fluttershy just continued to admire the scroll. Most of the pictures she couldn't make sense of.

"What does it do?" She asked.

"It's just an artistic representation of past events, I use it as a kind of journal." He said. Flutterhsy nodded, she had one last thing she needed to ask about, and that was Myst's eyes. She feared the answer, he could be anything, a changeling maybe, or perhaps a dangerous creature that simply resembled a pony. She didn't take her eyes off the paper, though. It was too beautiful for words to describe.

"Um, Myst? Could you please tell me the real reason your eyes were glowing?" She asked, bracing herself for the worst. Unfortunately, Myst's answer wasn't scary or something to worry about, no, it was worse. It was vague.

"All I can tell you is that a very long time ago, I was put under a very powerful spell, a curse. These eyes were part of the deal." He said. Fluttershy thought about that answer for a second. So Myst was cursed? She looked back at the calendar. Who was this pony? She desperately searched the map for something to make sense of. The picture was very beautiful. She found nothing, unfortunately, that would help her decipher the pony next to her. Eventually she took her eyes off it and focused back on Myst. It was convenient that she did because Myst had a request.

"Fluttershy?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Um, once I've woken up from a nightmare, I never go back to sleep. So I'm going to head to town, don't look for me, okay?" His voice sounded hoarse, almost melancholy. Fluttershy didn't blame him. After all, nopony enjoys sharing their deepest personal secrets. Dreams were for one pony only, and that was the dreamer.

"If you need somepony to keep you company, I'll go with you." She said. She looked back at the calendar, only to see something she'd hadn't seen before.

Outlining the calendar, perfectly spaced from each other, were six small circles. Purple, blue, yellow, green, pink, and red. The elements of harmony. What were they doing there? At least she assumed those were the elements. They must've been, right? Regardless, it could wait. She expected her friend to decline her offer, but Myst didn't see the harm in letting her come with him, so he agreed, and the two headed out to town together. Eventually, the two found their way to a bar, Myst's favourite location to burn away the night.

"And that was the time I wrestled a manticore, and won."

"Myst, I think you've had a bit too much to drink."

"What if I told you the alcohol helps me sleep?"

"I'm sure it does, now come on, let's get you to bed."

"You know, Fluttershy, you're, like, my only friend, and I guess that makes you my best friend."

"That's nice, Myst, careful, don't hit your head."

"OW!"

"You alright?"

"That almost hurt me as much as I hurt that manticore."

"Okay Myst, you fought a manticore, alright?"

"That's right I did."

Fluttershy practically dragged Myst into the guest bedroom, but when she finally deposited him in the room the full weight of the night hit her. Myst had gone really heavy on the alcohol back there. She hoped it wasn't an issue. Then again, if she was cursed and her only friend was a practical stranger she met two or three days ago, she would probably tip them back a bit faster than normal as well. Where were Myst's friends? Did he really have nopony to support him? What was this curse anyway? What did it do? Who wanted to hurt him? Well, those questions could wait until the morning.

She had made a promise, she couldn't break it.

Fluttershy walked into Twilight's castle, determined to keep Myst's secret. Of course it wasn't like she had that much to talk about. Why did Myst not want everypony to know he was cursed? Should she go behind his back and tell her friends? Maybe Twilight could help Myst. She was very well versed in magic. No. He had been very clear. VERY clear. There was one thing she was not to do, and that was talk about him with the others. She pushed through the doors into the map room, her friends rushing to meet her.

"Hi, Fluttershy!" They all chanted.

"You ready for the picnic?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy began to say yes, but stopped halfway through her sentence. She forgot. She forgot to tell Myst. Fluttershy told her friends she'd be back in a second and darted back out the door. She was a bad host, how could she have forgotten about the picnic? She pushed her door back open to find Myst sitting on the floor, mulling over his calendar.

"Hi, Myst, how are you?" She said, trying to sound friendly. She knew Myst hadn't planned on going to the picnic in the first place, and if he knew she'd forgot about him, or that they were going to be late, he might want to back out again. Unfortunately, Myst was not in the mood to be conned. He may have been bad at lying, but he picked up on it pretty quick. Plus, he wrote it down.

"The picnic is today, we're late." He said. Fluttershy was dumbfounded. How did he know that was what she was there for? She nodded signalling that he was correct and asked him if he still wanted to come. "Sure." He said. Fluttershy didn't understand why he was so eager to come all of a sudden, but she left it there. She really wanted him to come to the picnic and wasn't ready to risk him changing his mind.

Myst had brought along some food of his own to the picnic. Fine cheeses and breads, olives and such. It looked very expensive. Nopony raised a hoof to stop him though, it was all too delicious. The smell of the picnic was enticing in its own right. But Myst didn't seem that eager to eat anything. He did have a lot of questions though. The other six didn't know, but he was carefully trying to pry information out of them,

"So the six of you solve friendship issues, what's that like?"

"It's usually pretty fun, actually. The map's pretty vague so we have to do a little digging when we get to the towns." Applejack said.

"That's interesting, but why do you have to do it? Did you design it?"

"No, it just popped up one day. As for why we have to do it, it's probably because we wield the elements." Rarity said.

"Elements?"

"Yes dear, the elements of harmony." She responded. Myst's expression changed from his usual lack of emotion to realisation.

"Have you heard of them?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Who hasn't at this point? It's great to meet you in person though." Myst said. The seven ponies took a second to just enjoy their picnic, before Rainbow Dash spoke up,

"Hey, Myst. Do you want to practice racing with me sometime soon?" Myst replied swiftly,

"I would but I have to work on my ca-" He stopped, catching himself. Even Fluttershy didn't know that much about his calendar, and it was imperative it's true function remain a secret. The last thing he needed to do was tell everypony about it. "I'd love to practice flying with you Rainbow Dash." Everypony sat there in relative silence until Myst spoke,

"Well, I'm really sorry I can't stay longer, but I have to go, teach." He said. His friends waved him goodbye and he made his leave. The six waited for a little while before everypony turned to face Fluttershy.

"Alright Fluttershy, should we be worried about this pony?" Rarity asked. Everypony else nodded and leaned in to listen to her response.

"What do you mean?" She asked, unsure if they had caught on to a bit of their earlier conversation that night Myst got really drunk.

"We know he told you more. There's no way he's just got a condition! Twilight looked it up." Rainbow Dash added. They pestered her for a few more minutes, with Fluttershy denying all allegations, some of which included: Myst secretly being Sombra who had come for revenge, Myst being a changeling sent to infiltrate Ponyville, and, her personal favourite, him being an alien who had crash-landed in Equestria. Unfortunately, Fluttershy's words got away from her for a second,

"I'm sorry everypony, but I can't tell you." She said. They all looked at her with expressions of curiosity, her words confirming that she had indeed heard more. "I made a promise, and I don't intend to break it anytime soon."

"Oh come on Fluttershy!" Applejack said. "We promise we won't tell anypony else. Come on, is he holding you hostage?"

"Applejack, why do you find it so difficult to believe he's just normal?" Fluttershy asked. "Of all the ponies in Equestria I figured at least you could be able to put some stock in the kindness of strangers." They didn't understand. Myst was cursed. Any matter of horrible things could've happened to him. He wanted to keep those secrets to himself, and she respected that. Apparently her friends didn't though. "I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with him." She suddenly wasn't in the mood to talk anymore, so she walked off, back to her home. She trotted up the path and into her home to find Myst dusting off one of her bookshelves. It seemed he had also took the liberty of cleaning up the rest of the cottage. She walked over to him. He dropped his duster, and stood up straight, stammering.

"Uh, h-hi Fluttershy, sorry I was just doing a little cleaning." She looked around, he had put on a kettle of tea, ginger judging by the aroma, and he was cleaning her house?

"Thank you Myst!" She said.

"Well," He started to say. "I know it must've been difficult to hold back on your friends, especially with them pestering you like that."

"How did you know?" Fluttershy asked.

"Intuition, there's no way they bought my excuse, or yours, so I figured they probably tried to pull something more out of you."

"Well, you're not wrong." She responded. It was kind of exhilarating, guarding a secret nopony else was aware of she looked back at Myst, he looked much more serious than before,

"You have been very good to me Fluttershy." He said. "You gave me a place to stay, you kept my secrets safe, and you have been a wonderful friend." He took a deep breath. "It's been quite some time since I've had an actual friend, but I do consider you to be one. What I said back at that bar wasn't just a bunch o drunken ranting, I was serious, you are a dear friend of mine." He paused for another second, really taking his time. "I have a secret. Worse than anything I've told you thus far. I vowed to myself that I would never tell another soul, but regardless of that, I want to trust you with it, not just because I trust you, but because I need your help." Fluttershy walked towards Myst, putting a hoof on his shoulder. She didn't say anything, she simply silently supported him. He looked into her eyes and said, "That calendar, it doesn't just record the past, it foretells the future."