Brave New World, Discord's Revenge

The Professor's final memories

***

Owen pushed a button and Twilight dropped out of the Defender, screaming. He looked down at where she had been. He sighed, almost as if it was a mere annoyance. The hole that had been created by the leaving of the cockpit was creating a vacuum, and his hat flew off his head.

"Bloody...hat." He groaned.

Owen walked through the ruined airship, he turned into the balloon section, where he sat down. He looked at the small chest that was inside it. He opened it up and took out the contents: A small steel rapier, a woven belt and his small, silver revolver.

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 an eternal slumber.

***

Celestia used her magic to unveil the statue. It was a small stone pony, beside a huge stone model of the Defender. All the ponies that had arrived to pay there respects applauded politely. Twilight sat at the front, holding back her tears. She went to the statue and placed the burnt hat on the stone Professor's head.

"I'll miss you..." She whispered, sobbing into her hooves.

Applejack put her hat over her eyes, Fluttershy looked at the floor, sadly. Rarity cried endless amounts of tears into her hankie, while Pinkie attempted to cheer her up. Rainbow Dash stood there solemnly, trying to not let any tears escape their ducts.

Ebony and Tom held each other tightly, scaresly believing that their best friend had been destroyed. Aimee looked sadly at the statue. Jake was messing around with some firecrackers while attempting to look upset.

Celestia stood there, silently. She looked into the mind of all her newest subjects, in search of memories of the Professor. She looked into Ebony's firstly.

He was a nice boy, a little paranoid perhaps, but a nice, kind, polite boy. She had loved him at one point. Celestia watched as Ebony saw Owen turn nasty. Celestia frowned.

"There's something evil, deep within him..."

She watched as Owen devoured and manipulated. He obliterated humans, he ended friendships and influenced many until they were under his control. He clenched his right fist and gave out a laugh of victory. Celestia's fear steadily increased. Eventually, when he was at his most powerful, he stopped. He simply stopped. He sat down on the floor and started to weep. About what he had done. About what he had ended and destroyed. Ebony stepped out of the shadows and helped him to his feet. He looked exceedingly shocked. He started to smile. They both hugged and carried on with their lives.

The memory ended. Celestia looked shocked. He was so kind...yet so evil. A match made in hell. Something that wasn't meant to be created. She liked it. Danger and safety wrapped into one. Defeat and victory entwined, forevermore. An interesting mix.

She looked into everyone else's memories.  It was relatively similar. He was kind and nice, then something turned him. Oddly, everyone stopped Celestia to see what had changed him. She smiled, sadly. A mystery that was never meant to be explained.

After she snapped back to reality, her younger sister, Princess Luna, nudged her side, gently.

"Maybe you should go and see Twilight Sparkle, she has had a big shock, after all."

All the other ponies had left the funeral. Celestia nodded and her younger sister left the two alone. Celestia trotted up to Twilight.

"Are you alright, my faithful student?" she queried.

Twilight sat on the statue, running her hoof over the Professor's stone mane.

"I lost him... He saved me... But I lost him..." Was all she could manage before she started to weep, once more.

Celestia wrapped her large wings around her student.

Several days later

***

Twilight was reading a new book she had discovered inside the Professor's secret lair. It was entitled "Great Expectations" and she was enjoying this Earth literature, immensely.

She finished the chapter and placed the book on a new shelf. The shelf was titled: "Earth Literature and the Professor's notes." She brought out a picture of a huge warship. It was twice the size of a normal blimp and had almost triple the weapons. She couldn't see any place for helium to be imputed, which led her to the conclusion that this aircraft was powered by engines alone.

Twilight, to this day, couldn't understand how this would work. It would take insane amounts of power to even lift that thing, let alone allow it to fly. She put her hoof on a section of the blueprint with the annotation: "Atomic Rainboom Engines, or ARE for short." Twilight couldn't understand what that meant. Then again, no one else would either... considering he was dead.

She shook the horrible memory from her brain and continued to read the notes.

She read through the "Rainbow Laser", "Atomic Rainbomb" and the "Crystal needler weaponry" sections of his notes, until she reached a section she had not read before.

It was called "Carnage Arc Reactor". It was designed to power machines that could mass produce anything in his notes, as it had an endless supply of electricity. It appeared to be created from a green gem called "Uranium" and a black rock called "Coal". In the corner of the sketch was a large annotation inscribed:

"THIS WAS NOT COPIED FROM THE HUMAN UNIVERSE, promise."

Twilight laughed at the little joke he had left behind. Then felt sad, as she remembered that hug they had shared. An upsetting memory. She thrust it from her head.

The doorbell rang and Spike answered it. It was Ebony. Twilight turned around and ushered her in. She showed her the Professor's blueprints.

"Yeah, most of these are from our world..." Ebony mused. She stopped as she saw one of them.

"But not that one..." She pointed at a sketch called "Executor". "This wasn't created by Humans..."

This was the sketch of the helium-less warship. With the huge engines. Ebony frowned and looked at it. It's intricate design was streamlined, different to anything of an Earthly origin. Almost alien. Owen must have designed it himself.

"He had quite the imagination...Always the brightest..." She silenced herself, aware of what she might be implying.

"It's quite alright, Ebony... It's fine." Twilight trailed off.

"I just miss him..." She said.

Twilight came and sat with her. She wrapped her hooves around her neck and said:

"He said those words once. Only replace the word "Him" with "Her" and that's the exact words he said, when he lost a friend of his. The best thing to do, is to carry on his memory."

Twilight nodded.

"For him."