//------------------------------// // Final Night // Story: Five Nights at Twily's // by Purple Smart //------------------------------// After several rolls of gauze, a container of ibuprofen, a stern scolding from Fluttershy to Discord, and a half-sincere apology, Mike was finally well enough to tell his story. Discord, being the person he is, tried to conjure up a flashback for everypony to see. Unfortunately, this led to quite a few questions from the ponies. "It all started in the year 1987-" "Wait, what's all these fancy tools?" "-uh, those are lab equipments-" "Why is this room so pristine and white?" "-because it's a laboratory, specifically the decontamination room. Now can I-" "But my laboratory is no where as bright as this! How can you even get it this bright?" "Aw, heck, everything thing looks cold and gloomy, ain't ya world got any apple orchards or something?" "-well, yeah, but that's not-" "Alright, enough already, when are we find out why Discord's part of this?" "Ooh, who's that lady over there? Is she your special somepony?" "...that... that's my... sister..." Mike started to tear up. Everypony became quite. Mike put his face in his hands and cried for a moment. Finally, he lifted his head up and took a few breaths. "Look," he said, "I know- that you guys are interested in everything about my world. But this is really hard for me, and I'd like to get it out. So can we hold off on questions? Please?" Everypony nodded and remained silent. "Okay, let's try again..." It all started in the year 1987. A few months before then, we had discovered a mysterious substance. In an attempt to categorize it as a new chemical element, we discovered that the substance rarely maintains a consistent characteristic. In order to find the cause of this nature, a select few scientists and analysts, myself included, was given special permission to study the substance. *cutscene to Mike looking through a microscope* "Ugh, first it's a crystalline structure, then a double-helix, then it's asymmetrical! Just stay normal!" *A young female walks in* "Hey Mike, what'cha doing?" "J-Jessie? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?" "Nah, it's boring at home, and I wanna hang out with you." "Jessie, you know it's dangerous to be here, you should be more careful." "Aw, don't be such a worrywart. Hey, what's that?" Jessie grabs the substance. "Hey, don't touch that!" I tried to grab it out of her hand, but it slipped out of my hand, near the power generator. I was going to grab it when I hesitated. "Hmm..." "Hmm?" Jessie was curious. "Why are you saying 'hmm?'" "Well, if I remember correctly, one of the shapes that this substance takes is a double helix. The unique cylindrical figure is often found as diribonucleic acid, and is often a sign of sentience." "...what?" I quickly grabbed some wires. "What I am trying to say is that this... might be alive." I start to power up the generator to produce a charge. Jessie looked worried. "Are you sure this is safe?" she asked. I should have seen this as a warning. Now the odds of creating life using a simple electric spark was absurd, but the possibility of creating life hexed me, so I sent an electric pulse through the substance. Suddenly, the substance grew bigger and bigger, starting to take on the form of an animal. In all due respect, this should not have been possible, but I was too foolish and conceited to think anything bad of it at the time. I had created life! But then, the animal... it no longer remained docile, it bared it's fangs. It claws became more pronounced. And it had a wicked, twisted laugh. And it was looking at Jessie. "JESSIE! LOOK OUT!" But Jessie remained petrified, and I felt like I couldn't move. It was as if time had stood still. Except that animal was still moving around. He got closer and closer to Jessie, looking ready to pounce. "NO! DON'T YOU DARE!" I tried with all of my might to move, but I couldn't budge an inch. I was hopeless. The animal leaped, fangs open, at Jessie's frozen, terrified face. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" As soon as the animal made contact, it faded in a cloud of smoke. Slowly, Jessie fell over, and I burst out of my static position and ran towards her. "Jessie, are you alright? Speak to me? Are you okay? SAY SOMETHING, ANYTHING!!!" But, although she was not hurt, she could not say anything. Ever since the incident, she has never spoken a word to anyone. She retains an unsteady movement, shaky as if in fear. And no matter what emotion she has, whether it's happy or sad, her eyes always give the same shocked expression, forever frozen into her eyes, cold and unyielding. I promised myself that I would help her no matter what. So when they found remaining traces of the substance, I knew that I had to take the chance. I just had to... Mike sighed. "I just never thought I would never be stuck in the world of the Chaos Beast." "My name is Discord." The draconequus protested, but Fluttershy shushed him. Twilight walked up to Mike. "It must have been upsetting, not being able to help your sister for over a thousand years." Mike looked confused. "A thousand? I'm not even 50 yet! What could make you think that I was... you know what, never mind." Now it was Twilight who looked confused. "But... Discord has been in this world for over a thousand years. How does this make sense?" "I believe I can explain that." replied Discord. "You, see Twilight, when I entered this world, I couldn't let those pesky humans find me. So, in order to slow their search, I turned this world's timeline... sideways! So, this world's time was suppose to run perpendicular to theirs. But, it would seem that it was slightly skewed, so it still runs forward along with Mike's world, albeit much, much slower. A science man like you should be able to understand, right, Mike?" Discord patted him on the back, causing Mike to wince from both his fear of discord and the pain from the burn marks. "Whoops, sorry." apologized Discord. "Discord, enough of your nonsense, fix it now!" demanded Twilight. "I would if I could, honest!" said Discord innocently, "but it's been over one thousand years! Even if I still remember how, it'll be even more difficult to realign the timeline now." Twilight sighed in exasperation. "Sorry, Mike, it looks like you really are stuck here." "I figured." Miked looked around. Huh, he thought, it's really sad that I couldn't say goodbye to my friends and my family... especially Jessie. I was doing this all for her. He looks at every pony carefully. Still, this isn't the worst place ever. I have these ponies that really care about me, and really understand the pain that I feel. Maybe I can make this work. Maybe I can adapt to a life here. Maybe I can finally relax. "Well, since I'll be here for a while." Mike was hesitant with his words. "Would it be okay if... I could... stay... friends?" Hmm... friends... I like the sound of that. Everypony smiled. "Of course." said Twilight, nodding her head. "We'll help you get settled. Everypony will treat you nicely. I hope this world won't be too much of a setback for you." Mike takes one more look at the broken teleporter, then looks around the room. Now, after seeing all the familiar books and faces, he finally realized that he no longer minds. It would be a nice change of pace to finally... just... relax... Sorry, Jessie, I tried. I tried to help you, and I hope it was worth it. I won't be seeing you in a while, take good care of your self. "No, it's fine" Mike said to Twilight. "Let's get started." Eight Days Ago "A few minutes before the teleporter is ready. Now is the time to say goodbye." Say goodbye? That's ridiculous! It'll be a one day job! I got all my cameras fully charged, I got my laptop, and I'll just go in and go out and put an end to this nonsense. Still, I should check up on Jessie before I leave. After all, I'm doing this for her. "Three minutes, Mr. Schmidt." Gotta make this fast. I walked to Jessie. "Hey, Jessie, are you feeling any better?" Silence. "Well, this is it. I'm going to leave soon, but I'll be back, I promise." She looked at me. I could see fear frozen on her face, but I also saw another emotion. I saw compassion. Huh, strange, she never showed anyone else that face before. "Um, I'll be okay. Take care of yourself, you hear?" Suddenly she leaped up and hugged me. She said, in a quiet whisper "Mike do not worry about me. If you leave, and don't come back. I just want you to know that you didn't fail. You are the best brother I ever had, and I couldn't ask for a better one. I'll miss you when you are gone, but I won't think of you as a failure. Promise me that you won't think of yourself as a failure." The entire room was quiet. This was the first time Jessie had spoken in years. Just hearing her speak was enough to surprise everyone. "Um... okay, I promise." Tears started flowing down her face. We hugged tightly for a while. A voice spoke up. "Um, ahem, Mr. Schmidt? Thirty seconds left." I had to let go of Jessie. I needed to go through this teleporter. I must locate the source of the substance and fix everything. This is all my fault, and I'm finally going to fix it. I get myself ready, and looked at Jessie one last time. "You're not a failure." She said one last time, smiling. For once, her face didn't have a hint of fear in it. "Thank you." I said, smiling back. But I shouldn't have anything to worry about. This was just a one day job. I need do this right.