One Last Chance

"I gotta go, see you all later!" Fluttershy yelled to her friends on her way back to her cottage. She had been leaving early from all of their get-togethers for the last few days as Myst had offered her something she couldn't help but accept. He had been teaching her all about the ancient form of magic contained within his magical device that he called 'the calendar'. Apparently, it was thousands of years old and it had been passed down through his family for generations. She sat on the floor next to Myst, with his calendar as a centerpiece.

"How can it predict the future Myst?" She had finally asked one day. Myst had been trying to teach her as little as possible whilst still giving her insight into ancient magical artefacts, but she had got a little too curious.

"Well, the calendar exists in a plane of time separate from our simple past, present and future. It exists at all times. You draw something on the calendar, and it delves into the object's future and dredges up information. It's always incredibly vague, however. For example," Myst took to a tiny corner of the calendar and drew a crystal castle, the one from the crystal empire. "Well, I didn't know those two had a baby. Let's see, in the future, I see... dark clouds."

"Sombra?" She asked.

"Or a particularly rainy day."

"When?'

"Sometime in the next ten years."

...

"That's it?"

"I told you it was vague. The calendar has a mind of it's own, and it reveals what it must. Sometimes it will even enter my dreams."

"Incredible." Fluttershy stated, not taking her eyes off Myst for a second. Normally Fluttershy wouldn't be too interested in magic. But this was different. It was ancient knowledge, passed down through his family for generations. It had never left his bloodline and now he was trusting it to somepony he had met only a week ago. Why her though? She couldn't do anything with it. Any ancient rituals or long forgotten spells, she couldn't use them.

"Yeah. My parents were pretty bummed when they saw that I was a pegasus." Myst said, recalling his parents briefly. "They really wanted me to be a unicorn so that I could experiment, and add to the basin of knowledge. Unfortunately, I've just been stuck verifying the calendar and adding to it best I can. I can't teach anypony about it because it's a bit of a family secret, so... yeah. But I trust you, so I might as well share the information with you. You've proven yourself reliable."

"That's too bad, I would've really liked to see ancient magic at work." Fluttershy said.

"It was something, I can tell you that. My family's work was brilliant." Myst added. "Nothing like normal unicorn magic. My parents were pretty skilled." He sighed, pushing around the papers on the floor, head down. Fluttershy picked up on this and asked a question she already knew the answer to.

"Myst. Where are your parents?" She waited for his response, but never got one. Myst just looked up at her, all traces of happiness drained from his face. "Oh." She said, realising she had just hit a very sensitive nerve. "I'm sorry."

"I think that's enough for today." He said, compiling all the papers lying on the floor and rolling up his calendar. Fluttershy just nodded. She knew she had brought up a sensitive topic, and so she let Myst be. He wandered off outside to get some air, before he took off, back into the skies. As he flew off, he thought to himself, 'I wish I was back in Canterlot, I can't rely on just those six'.

Myst walked through town, heading to his day-job, which was essentially just walking around pretending to have a job. Myst didn't teach, school ponies drove him completely insane. So he usually just walked about, telling his friends he was on his break or he had gotten off early if he ever ran into them. Maybe he would buy some more tea while he was there? They were running out of non-caffeinated tea. Myst always stayed away from caffeine and sugar, they made him feel awake, and if he didn't feel exhausted when he went to sleep then, well, nightmares. He walked into a department store, running his hoof along the fully stocked metal shelves, searching for the tea. Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, tea! There it was! Why did everypony love coffee so much? Geez. He picked up as much as he could get his hooves on, and walked out to the counter, greeting the cashier and paying his due. He seemed to have forgotten that he had to walk all the way back to the cottage. He paid for the tea and found himself uncomfortably balancing the boxes back along the grassy path to the cottage. Luckily another old acquaintance showed up to help him soon enough. The brown stallion, with an hourglass cutie mark, from when he was frozen.

"Hey there, don't overwhelm yourself." He said. Rushing over to catch some of the tea that threatened to tip right out of Myst's hooves, Myst recognised him immediately. An old acquaintance from a few years back.

"Don't you have better things to do than help somepony with his groceries, Whooves?" He asked.

"Nonsense, I've got all the time in the world. And besides, why wouldn't I want to help an old friend?" He replied. Myst just sighed and continued walking, taking a turn out into the countryside. It figures that he'd just so happen to live in the one place Myst was actually enjoying. Technically, he didn't live there, but still, he liked to park his home there, though. Regardless of how bad he wanted his doctor friend to forget he was there and go away he didn't really feel like bothering. He liked Ponyville, and it wasn't going to be fun leaving for his next job. But, while he couldn't stay, he could certainly enjoy himself while he was there. Whooves was usually trustworthy with secrets and such, but Myst still felt the need to confirm he would keep his,

"You, haven't told anypony about it? Have you?" He asked.

"Of course not! Can you imagine what would happen if everypony in Equestria knew your secret? We'd have a national crisis on our hands!" He said flamboyantly.

"Please Whooves, it's not that serious," Myst added. "I merely would prefer to be considered normal by pony standards."

"Yes, because we all know just how mentally stable you are. I don't know why you refuse to get counselling." The Doctor said.

"Too expensive."

"Bugger off, Myst, you're the richest pony in this entire town."

"Fine then, I don't have time."

"Myst, I will hurt you."

"Okay, okay. I just don't like sharing my problems with other ponies. They're my problems, not theirs. The only ponies I can really talk to are ponies like you, you know: Celestia, Luna. You've seen enough that it helps me feel like my problems aren't that big."

"Myst, your problems will always be big. And see it's not so difficult is it?" He asked.

"Well, it's not like I've ever been a very good liar, plus you know just about all of my secrets at this point."

"Hey, we're friends, right?" The Doctor asked jokingly.

"If you insist." Myst said. It really sucked. He liked Ponyville, but his job demanded that he moved and so he was forced to move. "Maybe one day my life will go back to normal."

"Well, I look forward to that day, friend." The doctor replied. They approached the door of the cottage and Myst waved his friend goodbye.

"Thanks for the help with the tea. You know how I despise caffeinated beverages." Myst said. They exchanged goodbyes and parted ways, Myst heading inside and the Doctor wandering off to do whatever he did in his spare time. Myst immediately put the kettle on, humming a tune as he cracked open a book he bought at the store. About halfway through One Hundred Years of Solitude, Fluttershy opened the door and stepped inside the cottage.

"Hi Myst, who was that outside?" She asked. Myst looked up from his book. As soon as he saw who it was, he closed the book and came to greet her.

"Hi Fluttershy." He said. "That was an old friend of mine. He helped me bring in the tea." He said, gesturing to the kettle, which was not quite finished heating up yet. "Would you like some?" He asked. Fluttershy nodded with a 'yes please' and Myst got up to check on the kettle, which still wasn't quite finished yet. Oh well, if he let it heat all the way it would be too hot anyway. He poured and steeped the tea, handing one of the cups to his host. They sat on the green fabric sofa and drank in silence for a little while before Fluttershy asked Myst a question.

"Um, Myst. Why are you back so early? It's only one o'clock." Myst looked up at the clock, stricken by how he could've slipped up so much. Oh well, easy fix.

"I got off early, their normal teacher was feeling better." He said, accidentally taking a much too large sip of his tea, which promptly burnt his tongue. He made a sound of alarm indicating that the tea was just a bit too hot. Fluttershy looked at him, amused.

"Too hot?" She asked.

"Mhm." Myst cried, not opening his mouth. He put down the tea, swallowed what he was drinking, and fanned his mouth as if that would help. He finally got a hold of himself and decided to ask Fluttershy about her day.

"So what were you up to today?" He asked.

"Well, I work part time at the veterinarian's clinic" Fluttershy said. "They were getting overwhelmed, so I got called in to work some extra hours. It seems everypony has a pet these days and there's a vicious flu circulating around. Usually I take in injured animals on my own, when I'm not working but they seemed really desperate for help."

"That's nice of you to help them out like that Fluttershy." Myst said.

"Yeah." She said back to Myst. "It felt good, and they really appreciated me working the extra hours. Thanks for listening to my story. A lot of my friends don't tend to listen to my stories. Sometimes I think they just summon me whenever they need to vent, or need somepony to cheer them up." Myst nodded, signalling he understood. "I like cheering ponies up, but sometimes I just want to talk." Myst thought about that for a second. It must upset her. He couldn't relate of course because, well, he had no friends, essentially. Luna and Celestia didn't count, they felt more like family, considering all the tough times they pulled him through. The Doctor was always rushing about, and anypony he had met in the other towns had probably forgotten about him by that point. He had only ever had…. one real friend. He was gone though. Fluttershy was his only friend now, a lonely prospect for most, but Myst simply enjoyed her company. She was an introvert, like him, and she was very friendly. She had been an excellent host. Plus she shared his appreciation for tea.

"I think I'm gonna head back out into town, say hello to some of the ponies that helped with the freezing incident." Myst said. He never thanked them properly, and the guilt was weighing on him. He strolled out the door, thanking Fluttershy for keeping him company. He was always grateful for her company. She had been the only one around to talk to after all of the nightmares, and she was very understanding. He walked down Fourth Street, wandering about through Ponyville, hoping to run into one of the six ponies that had fruitlessly tried to move him. And luckily enough he did. It was the pink and blue-maned mare from the party. He was just having the best of luck today! He approached the mare.

"Hello there." He said.

"Oh, hi..." The pony said back. Do you need something?"

"Right, I forgot, you left early." Myst said, slapping himself mentally. He really should've taken note of that. "My name's Myst. I was the frozen pony near the fountain, you tried to help me up." She did remember him. Lyra was really freaked out when she had found him. "It's just, I never got to thank you. I didn't even catch your name."

"Oh, it's Bon Bon. And you're welcome." She said. "I kinda feel bad for leaving you out there, though. I mean sure, I came to visit you at the hospital, but that's just because Lyra dragged me along."

"That's alright." Myst said. "Not everypony can make time for random ponies they find laying around on the street" Bon Bon chuckled at his last comment.

"Thanks. You should come meet the rest of my friends." She said. "We usually all hang around at my sweet shop on Wednesdays." The offer was appreciated, and Myst wasn't doing anything on Wednesday… or was it Wednesday already? Maybe Thursday?

"I'm sorry but, what day it it?" Myst didn't want to ask her, but he kind of needed to.

"Um, Tuesday." She said. "How did you forget the day of the week?" She asked.

"Well, to be honest I just kind of didn't bother to keep track. One day has just been another for me." Myst said. He was definitely going to keep track of the day from then on. "Also, I'd love to come to your sweet shop."

"Great, see you there. You should get yourself a calendar or something." She said, wandering off. That took care of Myst's thank you problem. The other two that had tried to help him would surely be there. The musicians, judging by their cutie marks. He had to go tell Fluttershy that he couldn't teach her anything about ancient talismans on Wednesday.

"Sorry, Fluttershy," Myst said. "I can't teach you on Wednesday." He regretted not being able to teach his best friend about ancient magic, plus, it had been over a week since he had arrived. He really should've been more closely studying his calendar, it had been acting up lately. Fluttershy was perfectly understanding. She was happy Myst was making friends. "Hey, maybe you could come along." He said. Fluttershy was all for Myst making new friends, but then again, it had been a while since she'd seen Vinyl, or Bon Bon, or Derpy. Well, she guessed it wouldn't hurt to come along. How much of a difference could it make?

"Sure."