One Last Chance

Fluttershy listened closely for the screams of her guest. She heard nothing though. It was unusual. Myst tended to be very vocal about his nightmares, sometimes shouting loud enough to wake the birds outside. Then he would wake up, and try his best to function with only four hours of sleep. There was only one night that Myst had slept all the way through, and even then she had heard yelling, at least semi-frequently. It was terrifying even imagining what was happening in his sleep deprived mind. Myst always claimed he slept like a baby, but he lied. She knew the nightmares were bad, really bad. They were vivid and painful, she could see it in his eyes. Sometimes she wished Myst would just wake up so she could tell him it was all a dream, so she could make him feel better. She knew this was selfish, and that Myst preferred to rest. She was actually more worried that he wasn't making noise that night. She needed to check on him. Fluttershy tiptoed over to Myst's room, trying to be as quiet as possible. Myst was a crazy light sleeper. He could hear a feather hit the floor in the room next to his when he put his mind to it. She slowly turned his door handle, using both hooves. She held the handle where it was while she pushed the door in. What she saw was worse than anything she had ever seen before. Myst was tossing and turning in his bed, but no noise came out of his mouth when he tried to scream because it was taped shut. For a second she felt good, seeing how far her friend was going to help her sleep, but that soon passed as she began to realise he had taped his mouth shut. That could be seriously dangerous. Fluttershy ran over and peeled the tape off of Myst's mouth. A small part of her wished she hadn't because he began violently screaming again. She couldn't help herself. She shook Myst awake, and he sprang up, sweating profusely, his eyes darting around the room.

"Where are you!" He shouted at the top of his lungs as he forced himself into a sitting position. He quickly lost his balance however and tipped off the side of the bed and hit the floor with a thud. Fluttershy wasn't sure what to do, so she just waited for Myst to fade back into reality. Eventually, he crawled back up. "Fluttershy?" He said, confused. He was looking at her like she was a total stranger to him, "Oh." He eventually realised that he was back in the cottage. He wasn't really sure what to say to her.

"I'm sorry Fluttershy." She just stared at him. Was he crazy? He could've choked on that tape.

"Myst, why did you tape your mouth shut?" She asked. Myst took a second to answer, glaring at nothing in particular before he realised he had been found out. He looked at Fluttershy. Her mane was frazzled and her eyes were slightly squinting, eager to seal themselves shut for the night, and angry at their owner for not allowing such a luxury. Regardless of her physical appearance, Fluttershy was maintaining a look of concern. The kind of concern nopony had greeted him with in a long time. He sighed and walked around his temporary bed. His steps were unstable and he was shaking. For a second one of his hooves lost its place and he hit the floor again. He pushed himself into a kneeling position, with Fluttershy trying to help him up. He shrugged her off though. He finally stood and quickly regained his strength, partially. He took haggard steps down the hall, as he began to speak,

"You don't deserve to be kept up all night, Fluttershy." He reached the bottom of the stairs. He pushed around through bookshelves, looking for a specific novel he had in mind, to help pass the hours until morning. He found it somewhere in the back, it was a little dusty, but she had quite a lot of books, so it was to be expected. He placed War and Peace on the table and resumed speaking, "I'm not normal if you haven't noticed by now. Sometimes I'll go a week barely sleeping at all, but you need to rest. That's just fact. And it's not fair to you for me to be muttering and shouting all night, regardless of how you always say you barely hear it." The sounds she heard were muffled by the walls, but that didn't stop her from worrying, hoping it would stop. It never stopped. Sometimes, she would listen to Myst screaming, and thoughts would dart through her head like, what if he's being attacked, or what if the nightmares traumatise him? Yet each day Myst would get up, usually at one o' clock in the morning, and he'd be fine. Three hours of sleep, maybe four. That's what Myst had been running on for the past week and a half. Every day he'd be more nervous than the last. He'd pace constantly, glancing at his calendar like he was expecting it to attack him at any moment. Recently he had started sending Fluttershy back to bed, pretending to go back himself. After she dozed off again he'd creep down the stairs and read a few novels. He'd quietly make himself some tea, sometimes he would even leave the cottage and fly around. Then he'd land on his favourite spot, a little hill near the border of Ponyville. He'd lay there on the grass for a little before he'd just kind of wander through the streets. He'd find the nearest bar and temporarily drown his worries underneath a sea of cider and other assorted beverages. It got lonely sometimes. He wished he could go back to sleep but he could never bring himself to experience the nightmares a second time. Yes, it was very lonely, but he was used to it, he barely felt it, anymore…

"Maybe it's best if I just find somewhere else to stay." He finally said. Fluttershy could feel her heart crack. He wanted to leave? No, he needed help, her help. She was his only friend. He'd said so himself. If he left, who would take care of him? Myst was not as stable as everypony thought. She'd seen him one night. When he thought no one was watching,

She peered through a crack in his door. He had dragged himself out of bed, collapsing onto the floor of his room. Then he staggered to his feet, glancing around… and whacked his head against a wall, right where the beam was so that it wouldn't leave a mark. Were his nightmares so horrible he was willing to concuss himself just to stay awake? Then he walked, no, shuffled over to his door. Fluttershy had sprinted behind the door of her room, pressing her head against it so she could listen for him. Myst walked over to Fluttershy's door, and also pressed his head against it, listening for her to make sure she hadn't heard him. She held her breath, waiting for Myst to be satisfied with the results. He soon left, tiptoeing down the stairs, and sitting on the floor. He had sighed and then proceeded to put the kettle on, as hot as he could get it. He waited for a few minutes, and poured the scalding hot water into a mug, but instead of steeping it, he just drank it straight up. He downed the boiling hot water in a matter of seconds. Fluttershy had almost let out a gasp at that. That water could've led to internal injury. However, Myst didn't even flinch. He just breathed out as steam came rushing from his mouth, filling the air. She followed him out of the cottage and found that was not the end of Myst's misfortune. He had hit up one of the few bars in Ponyville and got into a fight with four other ponies. He didn't fight back, though. He just let himself get beat. Over and over and over again. He got stomped on, choked, battered, everything imaginable. But he just took it, his expression never changing. After the four had beat him to the afterlife and back, he just walked back to the cottage, and sat on the floor. Fluttershy had to sneak through a window, but when she went back to her room, she didn't hear another sound, not so much as breathing. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it. What was he doing to himself, why was he doing it? Why would he want to put himself through that. He didn't deserve this.

"Fluttershy?" Myst asked. "Are you okay?" She looked at him, distressed, weak, looking like she had suffered a great pain,

"You can't leave." Myst saw Fluttershy's distress. What had he done? He didn't want to leave. Fluttershy was his only real friend, but he was destroying her. She wasn't getting enough sleep. She was dedicating too much of her time to him. He wasn't worth it… He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve anything, let alone a friend that actually cared. He wanted to just leave, to get out of her life. He was going to hurt her if he stayed any longer.

"Fluttershy, why are you so upset? I'll be fine." He said, trying to sound sympathetic. Unfortunately it had been too long since he had felt sympathy for anypony, and it came out as more of an annoyed than concerned tone. Fluttershy sniffled, readjusting herself for a moment,

"No, Myst. You won't be fine. I know you." She said. "You act like you're just shy around other ponies, but that's a lie. You're not shy. You're hiding something. Something big. Something you feel like you can't share with anypony lest you risk dragging them in as well." Myst stood there, his brow furrowing. He actually almost felt angry. This pony thought she knew him. She was in for a rude awakening then.

"Why do you think you know me so well Fluttershy?" He began to say. His change in tone startled her and she backed up a little, looking Myst right in the eyes. "You know far less than you think you know, and most of what you do know is a lie." This really hit Fluttershy hard. Obviously he lied to her, but about how much? Was Myst even the pony standing in front of her, or was he merely an illusion created by the pony in her home to draw away her sight. She wanted the old Myst back. The one that would come picnicking with her and her friends, The one that would teach her about ancient equestrian magic, the one that would read aloud to her when he inevitably woke her up in the mornings. Where did that Myst go? But she couldn't find him.

"Myst... What's wrong?"

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Fluttershy. Get out now. I will only warn you once. If I told you everything, absolutely everything I know, you'd run away without giving it a second thought." Fluttershy did feel scared for a second, but underneath the anger and torment, she knew he wasn't bad, and she wanted to help him through whatever his problem was, and she was pretty sure she knew how,

"Myst. Do you remember back at Twilight's castle, when you tried to sneak away from us, and I followed you out the door?" Myst didn't know what she was planning, but he went along with it.

"Yes?" He said.

"You stood there, and you waited for me to leave." She said, her voice changing to a much more melancholy tone. Myst wasn't sure what was happening, but she was definitely achieving her goal, he felt bad, really bad. Like he had just committed a heinous crime. "I didn't leave though, did I? I mean, I couldn't do that a friend." She waited for a response.

"No," he said. "I guess I couldn't either." He understood then, what she was saying.

"Exactly." Fluttershy said, "You need to stay, and I need you to stay, so why leave?" Myst smiled. This might just turn out alright.

Fluttershy and Myst walked into Bon Bon's sweet store. Myst pushed open the door and held it for his friend, who thanked him before turning her attention towards the six ponies chatting among themselves. She expected Myst to be a bit shy with them, so she went to announce their arrival. He jumped right in though,

"We're here!"

Everypony turned around, expecting to only see Myst, but to their surprise, Fluttershy was accompanying him. They weren't going to complain, though. The more the merrier.

"Hey Myst, hey Fluttershy." Lyra said, beckoning them over. Sitting at a few tables were Derpy and the Doctor, Lyra and Bon Bon and two female ponies Myst had seen before, but never got their names. One was an elegant looking brown earth pony with a purple g clef for a cutie mark and the other was a white coated unicorn with a scruffy looking blue mane and two eighth notes attached by a beam for a cutie mark. She wore bulky headphones and dark sunglasses. He walked over to them and Fluttershy introduced him.

"Myst, this is Octavia." She said. The brown pony, Octavia, stood up to shake his hoof.

"Octavia Melody, nice to meet you." She said. The other pony, Vinyl, seemed a little distracted though. Octavia cleared her throat, hoping to catch her attention. After that didn't work she tried calling her by name, softly at first,

"Vinyl." There was no response from the unicorn, so she resorted to yelling. "Vinyl!" The unicorn looked up for a second to see Octavia looming over her. She smiled cheekily and stood up. She shook Myst's hand, not saying her name. "This is Vinyl Scratch." Octavia said. "She doesn't talk a lot, but we love her for it." Vinyl smiled, and Myst chuckled.

"It is good to meet you both. My name is Myst." Fluttershy and Myst pulled out the chairs at the nearest table, turning them to face their friends before sitting down.

"So what have you two been up to?" Myst's friend, the Doctor asked. The two didn't immediately answer. They looked at each other, non-verbally agreeing that it would be best to skip over the events of the morning. That was something they would sort out amongst themselves, privately. For now, they would just talk about their days,

"Well, as you all probably know, Fluttershy is letting me stay with her, and, I'm thinking of applying for a position at a school in Manehattan." Myst said, a bit more chipper than he was in the morning. Fluttershy almost let out a 'what?', but she didn't want to seem like she didn't keep up with her friends. She could ask later. She went ahead and talked about her day.

"And the Veterinarian's office is offering me a full-time job." She said. Unfortunately, Myst didn't understand the facade she was trying to maintain, that they were good friends with no problems. Of course, she was perfectly fine discussing personal matters with her friends. It was Myst she was worried about. Sometimes he could get a little, depressed. Well, not depressed. He was just a little shy, or, antisocial, or both. No, he had problems communicating with other ponies, particularly pertaining to his personal life. Yes, that was it. But he was very honest when he wasn't lying. Okay, Myst was a very strange pony to describe, but he was very endearing, and kind to everypony. He would always rush to the aid of anypony who needed it, with military precision too. Bad things didn't happen very often in Ponyville, but when they did, he was always the first to try to fix things. One time, a baby bird had fallen out of its nest, somehow surviving the relatively long fall. After Fluttershy had looked it over and confirmed that it didn't break anything, Myst climbed twenty feet up a tree to put it back. He succeeded, but ended up falling, but didn't break anything. Fluttershy thought he was rather odd herself, but regardless of his odd nature, Myst was incredibly gifted at most things, except anything that required cooperating with other ponies, he wasn't even good at team sports.

"Really? When did that happen?" He asked.

"Yesterday." Fluttershy said. "They were eager to take on more staff, and I think I'm going to accept it, I mean, they really seem like they could use the help." Myst complimented her on her choice of career, and soon they were on to a different topic of conversation. Nothing slipped through. Everypony thought Myst was perfectly normal, except the Doctor of course, but he had known better from the beginning. Everypony seemed a little too eager to pry into Myst's life so he changed the subject. It turned out that Myst was excellent at changing the conversation topic. In fact, it was quite a novel idea. He changed the topic, by not changing the topic.

"Speaking of living arrangements, are you and Derpy living together yet?" He looked at them expectantly. Derpy looked like she nearly fainted, and the Doctor just stuttered, over and over again.

"No. Of course not! Why would you think that? I mean, why would we? That doesn't make any sense!" Whooves spat out, finally. Myst just lowered his head, and raised his eyebrow. The two were very uncomfortable sitting next to each other all of a sudden. They shifted around, glancing at each other but immediately turning away every time they accidentally locked eyes. "Now." Myst said. "Who's next?" The group spent the next half hour chatting, with Myst tactically poking fun at them every few minutes. His presence breathed life into the room. In fact, if you were to ask an observer, they'd tell you Myst almost reminded them of Pinkie Pie. He seemed to shine when surrounded by familiar faces. Everypony chatted with each other for a little while longer. They talked about how Vinyl, Octavia, and Lyra were going to try to collaborate on a group concert. They also talked for ages about Derpy and the Doctor's adventures, which everypony in the room was familiar with, even if they had tried to keep it under wraps for a while. And finally, they talked about all the crazy things that had happened in Ponyville over the years. Myst picked up on everything and instantly catalogued it. He was very good at storing information. Eventually, Myst decided that there were more exciting places to be. He invited everypony out for ice cream and paid himself. Everypony quietly ate their frozen treats, making light conversation, before they all parted ways. Myst and the Doctor stopped to chat for a quick minute before he caught up with Fluttershy. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Derpy and the Doctor walking side by side, much closer than they had before. He chuckled to himself,

"Mission accomplished."

"When did you become Mr Matchmaker?" Fluttershy asked, curious as to Myst's odd behaviour.

"Oh, come on. They're perfect for each other. He's been bragging about her for ages, I'm just trying to speed things along." He replied.

"That's adorable, Myst. Just be careful who you try that on."

"I feel so powerful."

"What's with the change in attitude? This morning you were just about ready to burst."

"What can I say? He's an old friend. Friends do everything they can to make each other's days just a little more awkward, before fixing the problem later."

"Is that so?"

"Of course." Fluttershy was surprised. This pony, almost inspired her. He seemed to radiate kindness and warmth, and she could tell his heart was filled with the purest of intentions. Even after all of the nightmares, the lack of sleep, the weird magic attack when he had arrived, he still found time for trivial things like helping his friends with their relationships. He was pushing through his life with nothing but the desire to make everypony happy, except himself...

The two cruised back to Fluttershy's cottage, Myst returning to his regular demeanour of low interest as the walked on. The place was still in immaculate condition, and Myst took up a comfortable position on the couch. He couldn't think of anything else to do for the day, so he decided to do some precognition. He pulled out his worn piece of parchment, his calendar, and spread it out on the brown kitchen table.

"Come here, Fluttershy."

"Yes?"

"We're going to do some precognition."

"Why, Myst? Is something wrong?"

"No, but do I really need a reason to foretell the future?"

"I guess not." Myst handed Fluttershy a pencil from a drawer nearby, gave her a two by two patch to write in. He went off to another section of his calendar. He didn't have anything in particular to draw, but he knew how best to manipulate the object. He doodled for a little while, drawing miniature circles and squares, around the outside ring. That was the thing about his prophetic device, the closer to the centre he drew, the more accurate and important the predictions became. And the more they pertained to his life in particular. He never drew anything in there, unless he knew it would be important. The squares and circles turned into tables, it looked like a pub or restaurant. He had no clue what that meant, but it was inconsequential. So he just let the map erase his writing. He looked over at Fluttershy. She was drawing her friends, quite well, if he did say so himself. Her eyes widened in wonder as they came alive and started to walk along the paper, hopping over into an inside ring. Now Myst was intrigued. They walked over other prophecies and black parchment until they reached the second to inside ring. They strolled into Twilight's castle before the picture faded away...

"What does that mean, Myst?" She asked. He wasn't paying attention to her speech, however. Ever since they had jumped a ring deeper he had catalogued its descent. This could be very serious indeed.

"Myst?" He snapped back to attention, realising Fluttershy was trying to communicate with him,

"Yeah."

"What does it mean?" She reiterated.

"You're going to visit Twilight soon?" He said, complementing his careful lie with a raise of his brow, meant to represent confusion.

"That's it? You kind of spaced out there for a second."

"It's just interesting, but don't worry about it." He said. Fluttershy decided to drop the issue and she continued to quietly draw in her patch. The two spent a little while longer before Myst got bored. To most, his calendar was a sight to behold, a wonder in its own right. But to him, it was just another part of his life, a time killer at best, and he had other things he would prefer to do. For a few minutes, Myst just quietly tapped the table, whistling an unfamiliar tune, before he finally got a little too bored and asked Fluttershy a question,

"Do you want to go out for lunch?"

"Huh?" She replied.

"Lunch. I thought it would be a nice way to get to know this place better."

"Oh... yeah sure."

"Great, you mind leading the way? I don't know any good places to eat. Don't worry, I'll pay."

"Well, okay. I guess there is this really nice-"

'Myst.' What? Who was that? Was somepony there? Myst glanced around nervously, expecting company. The only ponies in the room, however, were him and his host, Fluttershy. He was near positive that he heard something. He tried to tune back into the conversation. Nopony needed to know.

"It's got great decor too. So what do you think?"

"Sounds great." Myst didn't have any idea where thye were going, but...

'Myst. What are you doing?' Who was that? The sudden appearance of an intruder within his mind terrified him, quietly though. He could not alert Fluttershy, she would only worry. He had a lot of problems in the past, but nothing like this. He had always been positive that everything he had seen and heard, were real. Now, though, the equation had changed. He was sure. He pushed the issue away for a moment. He looked over to see Fluttershy standing, heading towards the door towards their destination. He trotted over to her, searching the confines of his mind for that intruder. He was found, and dredged out.

'What makes you think you deserve this?' It asked. 'You think because you've been such a good pony, that all of a sudden you deserve peace? Don't make me laugh.'

'Who are you?' He thought, hoping the voice could understand his thought patterns, He was given no response. In place of one, all he received was a horrible pain in his head, akin to being slammed against a wall. His walk became more of a slow stagger, until he could no longer support himself, and fell against the doorframe, which was luckily vacant, with the door being open. Fluttershy rushed to help him stay standing.

"Myst! What's wrong? Can you-"

'Ignore her, she is not important.' The voice had returned, louder this time. Commanding its presence over his mind. 'What's important is that you remember your place.' The voice chanted knowingly. Myst felt his vision begin to go. 'You belong in the dark, and that's where you will stay, indefinitely.' The darkness that had once only clouded the corners his peripheral vision overtook the rest of his sight, plunging him into pure blackness.

"Myst!" He felt something cold and hard press against his torso...

Did it happen, had it transpired? Was it done? He found himself in a room. A table adorned the centre, that was it. The room was filled with what he assumed were the forms of ponies all around him, huddled into small mobs. He, however, stood alone. There was an eerie silence filling the room. Shadows, given shape by candlelight, stretched across the walls. He could feel an immense sense of pain wash over him. What happened? Why was he in despair? Doors busted open and the news arrived, news not fit for this world, but correct nonetheless. Despair flooded into the room, the forms of ponies around him stooping their heads. He recognised this place. Location was hardly worth noticing, though. To him, there was nothing but the messenger. A messenger of sorrow. What else could be expected, though?… He knew nothing else.

-7 DAYS LEFT-