Brave New World, Discord's Revenge

The Professor's Tale

***

The balloon shook violently and it suddenly combusted. Owen screamed as the floor gave way and he fell through the burning inferno. He grabbed hold of his sword as it flew through the air. He grabbed uselessly at his revolver as it slipped away from him. He growled in annoyance.

He saw the Everfree Forest rushing to meet him. He cried slightly as the ground met him. As he landed he created a small crater in the earth. He wheezed and groaned in pain. The trees around him were destroyed and other debris were hitting the ground around him. His revolver landed neatly beside him.

He did a quick survey of his bodily parts. Back? Broken. Shoulders? Dislocated. Neck. Almost snapped. Heart. Stopping.

"Hell. I'm going to die..." He gasped. "No..."

Owen's eyes closed and he drifted into slumber.

After a few minutes he opened his eyes and saw a shiny object on the floor next to him. He used the last of his strength to move his mangled hoof towards it. As he touched it, the object glowed bright red and fixed itself to his chest.

He stood up.

His wounds were healing. His bones rejoined and the blood flowed through his veins once more. His brain clicked back into gear and his eyesight refocused. He gasped in amazement. He was alive.

"I didn't die!" He yelled. "I DIDN'T DIE!"

He leapt around the crash site for a few moments before looking skyward. The Defender was still ablaze and combusting. Some of the debris was crashing into the Everfree Forest, causing trees to collapse and erupt in flames.

The Professor picked up his rapier and his revolver, neatly tucking them into his burnt coat. Then he realised.

His coat was utterly burnt to a crisp, torn and ruined. Owen growled in disgust. He threw off the tattered coat and set it alight using some of the flames from the debris. He also didn't have his hat. Sucked to be him.

Out of the corner of his peripheral sight, he saw what had attached to his chest. It was pulsating a deep crimson red.

The Alicorn Amulet.

He tore off the Amulet and threw it to the ground. He panted heavily before realising something.

He hadn't been corrupted.

He frowned at this before shrugging it off. He was more concerned with the burning mess that had once been his pride and joy. He stared up at his airship as it crashed into the earth. With a few tears in his eyes, he walked off into the distance.

***

He wandered for what seemed like an eternity. Every so often another Timberwolf would meet it's end after staring down the barrel of his revolver. However, now he was dangerously low on ammunition and his hoofs were too weak to swing the rapier any longer.

Eventually, worn out from exhaustion, he collapsed in a heap on the road. He tried to use his magic to sustain himself. But to no avail. He led on the ground and closed his eyes.

He was rudely awoken later by a hooded figure poking him with a hoof.

"Ah, what's this in the sand? A weary traveller from beyond this land?"

The figure took down her hood, revealing her striped forehead. Zecora looked down at him with curious eyes.

"Huh? Zecora? Is that you?" The Professor asked, his eyes half shut.

"My name you know, now this is bizarre. But yet you're from a land, from so very far."

"Indeed." The Professor got up. "My name is..." He paused as he tried to think of his name.

He couldn't remember his name. He couldn't remember his damn name. What an idiot he was. No side-effects of the crash, eh?

"Seth Huxley." He finished. He'd always wanted to be called that. It had a nice ring to it.

"Detective, Seth Huxley." He added.

"Ah! It seems a stallion of uncertainties. And why might you travel through these trees?"

Owen was slightly disconcerted by these constant rhymes. Still, he wouldn't let it get the better of him. He decided to tell the truth.

"You see that explosion." He pointed at the huge smoke cloud. "I fell from that."

"This is truthful, I see. But how you survived is a mystery."

Owen shuffled slightly.

"I used to powers of the Alicorn Amulet to heal myself..."

Zecora's eyes narrowed.

"Dark magic should never be used... You are lucky you weren't consumed."

The Professor looked at his hoofs and apologised, quickly. He looked back at the path he had taken to get to his current coordinates. It was very calming, the sound of the birds and the beautiful trees.

"Do you mind if I stay here in the forest for a while? It's quite peaceful."

Zecora nodded.

"Thanks you, kindly." The Professor strided off, right in the direction of Zecora's cottage.

Zecora trotted alongside, wondering who this mysterious, intelligent and attractive pony was. She had never heard of him before, nor seen him. He seemed to be the type of person that Twilight would be friends with, yet Twilight had never mentioned him to her before. It was almost like he had appeared out of thin air.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, the duo arrived at Zecora's cottage. Upon entering, Owen glued himself to one particular artefact.

"Is this... A genuine Chronometer?

"Yes indeed, a very hard find. It has enough power to ensnare the mind."

The Professor picked up the device and analysed it.

"It's broken..."

He pulled out an small metal pin and started to fiddle with the timepiece. It started to hum and crackle to life until it was buzzing, happily. The Professor turned off the device and clicked it shut.

"Well, It's time power should be contained. No unnecessary paradoxes and wonky holes in the fabric of space and time."

Zecora looked at him. He was chaos and harmony entwined into one. An impossible pony. Yet he existed. Standing there in front of her fixing the device she found incapable to save. He was very odd.

He stayed for a while.

Nightmare Night

***

Zecora fixed up the Professor's bow tie. He was now wearing a tweed jacket, with his rapier tucked under the jacket and his revolver neatly in his pocket, the chamber was filled with six new bullets.

"Merci beaucoup." The Professor thanked.

He opened the door and stepped out into the night.

"I believe it's time for a Nightmare Night prank."

He wandered out of the Everfree Forest and stared down at Ponyville.

"I'm home."

Present Day Equestria

***

Ebony, Tom, Aimee and Sam were staring at Owen as he finished his tale.

Jake wandered up, he had been chatting to Derpy about the unreliability of the Griffon Express and their failure to be the big fat cat corporation they should be.

"Hey Owen." He said as he walked past.

Sam looked at him.

"Um... You KNEW!?"

Jake stopped.

"Well of course. There are three things that gave it away. One, Owen, like the Detective, has a distinct British accent with an annoying Irish tint."

"Oi." Owen said, disapprovingly.

"Two, Only Owen has a dress-sense like that, good god."

"Oi."

"And three, only Owen has a woven steel rapier that can cut through magical objects."

"That's alright." The Professor replied.

Ebony went over and gave him a hug.

"Well, the main thing is that you're back, eh?"

"Hmm." Owen agreed.

Twilight wandered up to him.Everyone else backed away. She smiled happily and thrust her hooves around his neck again. Tears streamed down her face and she held him. Owen hugged her back, a single tear forming on his eyelashes. They both broke off from the hug, but they still held each other. They looked at each other.

Twilight seemed nervous. She looked into his beautiful deep brown eyes, the colour of the tall oak trees in the Everfree Forest. He was looking down into her eyes too. He thought they were amazing, an ocean of beautiful mauve waves.

"What do I do?" Twilight thought.

"I love him..."

Twilight locked her lips around the Owen's, taking him by surprise. His stomach was doing flips. He relaxed into her and he brushed a hoof against her cheek.

Ebony looked on and smiled, he deserved this. After all this time being alone. Tom was trying his best not to cry while Aimee and Sam looked at each other and smiled. Derpy was hiding a snigger as Jake was intimating vomiting.

The kiss broke off and the two continued to look at each other.

"Happy Nightmare Night, Twilight."

"Happy Nightmare Night, Professor."