I Can Change

Everypony gathered around town hall had just cried tears of sorrow, knowing that one of their best stallions had just lost his life. Suddenly, Cheerilee, who had been looking over Equality's body, sobbing hysterically, had seen him open his eyes. She thought this was impossible, since nopony had ever survived a fall that large before. Startled by this, she jumped back. Equality looked around, to see everypony in town gathered around him. He had never seen this many ponies worried about him, and wasn't sure whether to feel flattered or grateful. One of the students started yelling as they ran away,

"ZOMBIE! MR. EQUALITY IS A ZOMBIE!" Equality was not a zombie, but he certainly wasn't the same. Despite never wanting to do so with other ponies present, he tried to transform, but with no luck. Like he had promised Princess Luna, he gave up his changeling powers. Equality then spoke.

"It OK, everypony, I'm fine." He wasn't fooling anypony, not even himself. In reality, he wasn't fine at all. Even though he had survived the fall, it did break all four of his legs, and he had difficulty breathing. The other ponies gasped in awe, now assured that Equality had survived. The stallion chuckled, and said, "Can somepony get me to the hospital? I think I broke my, well, everything." Cheerilee signaled for a paramedic, who lifted him, and carried him to the hospital, while he passed out from pain on the way there.

The next day, Equality awoke. Something felt familiar about the place he awoke in, but he soon figured it out. He was in the same hospital room he was born in. Cheerilee was overlooking him, along with some of the class's students. He opened his eyes, and said,

"Ch-Cheerilee? Oh, what happened?"

"Honestly, I should be asking you that. You've been out cold since last night. Quite frankly, the fact that you're still alive is nothing short of a miracle."

"Well, if you really want to know, can you ask these students to wait outside for a few minutes?" She escorted them outside the room, and he started giving her the story when she came back in. "You see, in reality, I was about to die. I saw my own soul rise out of my body, and I could see the pearly gates from afar. I was about to reach them, when the spirits of my family, my parents and Geneva, all came trying to bring me back down, all agreeing it wasn't my time. Princess Luna told me that I could come back to life, but only by giving up something about me. I decided to give up my changeling powers, so I could lead a normal life, but only after asking my family if they could agree to this."

"Wait, you mean you actually had a near-death experience, and had to give up your... well, your secret if you wanted to live?"

"Exactly. No wonder you were my teacher. You can really figure out just about anything." The two ponies chuckled.

"Well, this is definitely something worth the news, but I think you'd rather just keep it secret from the public, right?" The stallion nodded in agreement. "Anyway, the doctor says it will take about a month before your legs heal, but you should be out of the hospital in about two weeks." Equality was happy to know he could be out sooner than he expected, since he had just died and come back. He gladly took a month off his legs over eternity in the heavens.

It had been only a few days into his hospital stay, when he ran out of ideas to entertain himself. He had already read through the entire supply of books the hospital offered, including the Daring Do books (which, apparently, had a few graffiti marks from Rainbow Dash), so he had nothing to read. A nurse came in, hoping to get him out of his boredom.

"Mr. Equality? Do you want to read the newspaper? You're on the front page." The stallion knew what this meant. His situation with falling off the town hall roof and surviving had made the headlines. He was embarrassed by this, especially since he told Cheerilee that he didn't want his story getting out, but he had no other ways to occupy himself.

"Yes, please. Thank you." As he read, he was relieved that his story about seeing the spirits of his family wasn't included, but he would have preferred to not be included at all.

About a week into his visit, he had nothing left to do to entertain himself. All he could think to do was sleep. He dozed off one night, and his dream was quite vivid. Nopony else, not even Princess Luna was in it, but what was in it was marvelous. Equality walked through a hallway, filled with pictures of every stage of his life to this point. One picture was of the day he was born, with his mother holding him in her hooves, with his father, assuming the form of an earth pony, standing next to her. Another picture showed Equality at his graduation from Cheerilee's school, and it had Geneva's signature on it. Another was the day of his wedding to Geneva, his happiest picture ever. All these images from his dream had driven him to tears of joy, as he had forgotten just how happy some moments of his life were. At the end of the hallway was a door, with a note on it.

"This door will only open if you continue to follow the path of life. It cannot be forced open, and there is no key." The stallion recognized the writing on the note as, oddly enough, his own. It was as if his future self was trying to tell him something. The back side of the note had some writing as well.

"You can start by waking up now." The stallion did just that. It was sunrise outside.

Equality left the hospital the following week, as expected, and stayed at home while his legs healed. He was stuck walking on crutches for the time he spent at home, but he was lucky that Cheerilee was kind enough to take care of his needs for him. This came as no surprise to him, however, since Cheerilee did say he's practically family to her. Once his legs recovered, he tried to walk again. He fell a few times, but he got back up, now feeling a sense of pride knowing that his family was watching from above, praying for his happy life, plus the fact that he cheated death and made a full recovery. Well, almost a full recovery. He never could transform again, like the half-changeling he was, despite still having the black coat, white mane, and green-blue eyes he always had. He was now a regular earth pony, just like he asked of Princess Luna. He had finally granted his mother her wish for him to live a normal life. It would be a total of two months until he could return to his teaching job.

Not that Equality could walk again, and he could once again take care of his own personal needs, he went back to the school to work as the recess monitor. Cheerilee had managed to take care of the class very well in his absence. He would look at the class, and see the students all getting along so well. A few of the students had even been carrying on the Cutie Mark Crusaders club that some of Cheerilee's former students had started. They did feel jealous when Equality told them about how he got his very early, but he decided to act as a mentor to them, giving them advice on how they could find cutie marks of their own. He was like a big brother to them. This went on for another couple weeks, until Equality learned that Cheerilee was going back into retirement. He decided that, since nopony else was scheduled to replace her, he might as well be the pony that does.

The last day before Equality went back to work as a teacher at the schoolhouse, he received a letter from none other than Princess Luna. He had already seen her in his dreams, but she had never actually written to him. The letter read,

"Dear my faithful subject, Equality,

It has become quite clear to me that you have finally reacquired the ambition you once had to live. Your emotions are finally in check after everything you have been through, and I could not be more proud of you. I realize that you will no longer be the same pony you used to be, but a better one. Indeed, you did have to sacrifice the one thing that made you unique on the outside, but you will forever have the one thing that sets your personality apart from everypony else, your life experience. Never forget what you have been through, rather let it be your reason to continue. My sister and I send our warmest regards, as does your departed family.

Sincerely,

Princess Luna.

Any doubt in Equality's mind had been cleared at this point. and, now with the assurance of Princess Luna, as well as his family from above, he went back to the schoolhouse, and returned to his normal life, now ready to take life by the hoof and go for it full force.