Second Chances

3rd person
Twilight's castle

"And, you're sure there are no survivors? Not a single one?" Twilight holds her head in shock.

"Trixie and I searched everywhere. The entire cave system was empty" Starlight explains.

"Only..." Trixie starts but hesitates. Starlight places a hand on her shoulder in encouragement, "We found their nest, but... "

"But what?" Rainbow pressed.

"Every last egg has been destroyed. Some of them with f-fully developed c-children-"

"It's okay Trixie, you don't have to explain anymore," Twilight says cutting the poor woman off.

"What's happening?" Starlight asks as she holds her dear friend, "We just saw Thorax and the changelings last week, and they were perfectly fine!"

"It's nothing you need to worry about right now. We'll handle this" AJ reassures them.

"Yeah, I'm sure Thorax saved them all. He's probably just hiding out somewhere!" Rainbow exclaims.

Trixie and Starlight don't look convinced, but they still nodded their heads, "Alright, we'll leave the rest to you then"

They turn to leave.

"Wait" Twilight stands from her seat, "make sure you keep this information a secret for now"

"We will" Starlight responds.

"Also," Twilight starts grimly, "keep your heads low for a bit. Just until things blow over"

The two give her a concerned look but agreed before taking their leave.

"So much for not making them worry" Rainbow sighed, "Why did ya have to tell them to keep their heads low'? That's gonna make them worry even more"

"While we don't want anyone to panic, we want to make sure they're safe" Twilight explained, "First first the prisoners of Tartarus and now even the changelings. This is a whole species we're talking about. To be able to wipe them all out just like that?"

"We already know who did this." Applejack said grimly, "We should be stopping him before it's too late!"

"I agree with AJ. We should get him before he has time to prepare for us!" Rainbow argued.

"The princesses strictly told us to wait for their instructions, so that's all we're going to do for now" Twilight stood from her throne.

"Aren't you a princess too?! You should decide what the best move to make is" Rainbow insisted as she stood as well.

"And I decided...that waiting is the best thing to do right now" The princess crossed her arms, "I trust Princess Celestia. She knows more about Typhon than we do. She knows more than anyone for that matter, so if she says waiting is the best thing to do, then I trust her completely" Twilight turns her back to them as she leaves the map room.

"Do you really trust her?"

Twilight turns around sharply to face Applejack, "What do you mean?"

Aj doesn't look at Twilight, "I'm just sayin'...After bein' an element, facing so many foes, and even becoming a princess, does Princess Celestia really tell you everything?"

Twilight couldn't respond. She was at a loss for words as she struggled to speak, "I- Of course she does! Why wouldn't she?"

"If we think back to the very beginnin', She completely disregarded nightmare moon's return, knowin' that the stories were true, and she still got captured, and for what? Did she ever explain that?"

"W-well" Twi stuttered.

"What about that time she sent us to the crystal empire. We could have been enslaved by Sombra or even killed if spike didn't come with us, and even that's a stretch" Rainbow added.

"Ooh ooh, what about the wedding? That was fun!" Pinkie jumped in cheerfully, but it was clear that she was trying to lift the tension in the room.

"You mean when Celestia didn't believe that Cadence was a changeling?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"None of you guys believed me," Twilight added.

"We believed that Cadence was actin' strange, but we couldn't have guessed that she was a giant shapeshiftin' bug" AJ deadpanned.

"You would think if she knows what changelings are and she had even the tiniest bit of trust in you, she could have figured out the truth on her own" Rainbow thought out loud.

Twilight looks Aj in the eyes and looks over her group of friends. The rest of them avoided eye contact.

"So...you all think Celestia is hiding something? Or she's clumsy? is that what you're trying to say?" Twilight questions harshly.

No one answers.

AJ walked up to a frustrated Twilight and placed her hand on her shoulder, "Listen Twi, all we're trying to prove is that, even if she's a princess, your teacher, and has more experience, not every choice she makes is the best one. And we think you should start makin' your own choices. The whole world is at stake here, just...make sure you understand that any choice you make will affect everyone"

With that, AJ, Rainbow, and Pinkie left the room, leaving just Twilight and Fluttershy, who hasn't said a word in the whole discussion.

Twilight glance at Fluttershy from across the room. The shy woman kept her gaze on her lap.

"I haven't heard what you had to say," Twilight says, breaking the silence as she sits down across from her shy friend, "What do you think of Celestia's plan?"

Fluttershy kept her mouth shut for a few moments, "I...I think about Autumn every day, every hour, and every second. I...think about her smile and how her cheeks become red when she laughs or cries"

Fluttershy smiles as she speaks, "Ever since she was born, she was always on my mind. I think about how she can be timid and scared like me and stubborn like her father. And...when it comes to making decisions, I think of her" Shy looks up at Twilight, "I'm sure its the same for you about Nebula. Just like every parent. I always think of how the choices I make can affect her, and it's scary sometimes. But...whether it's the right choice or not, It's always mine to make"

Shy takes Twilight's hands, "Think about Nebula, your friends, ponyville, and everyone else you care about when you decide. It doesn't matter If it's the princesses idea because, in the end, you will have made that choice"

Twilight didn't realize it herself but she had started to tear up while she listened to Fluttershy. When Shy noticed she became flustered, "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you upset!"

Twilight laughed as she wiped her face, "No, it's alright, I'm not upset" She leaned forward and gave her friend a hug, "Thank you Fluttershy, I needed to hear that"

"I know what to do now"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Autumn's POV
outside of Ponyville schoolhouse

"Did you finish it?" Candy bounced over to Nebula and looked over his shoulder. On the picnic table in front of him was an essay, "Oooh, that's a lot of writing"

Nebula handed the paper to me so I could read it. It was a speech about our school, but when I got to the bottom, it changed into something more. Candy read from over my shoulder before throwing her arms around Nebula.

"Nebby, you're a genius!" Candy exclaims as she hugs him.

"Nebby?" He questions as he pushes her off.

"Are you sure this essay is good enough for the ceremony?" I ask.

Nebula nods, "My speeches are always chosen for important assemblies. There's no doubt"

Every fall, our school holds an entrance ceremony for all the grades. A representative from each grade must read a speech to their peers about moving onto the next grade, fifth grade being the most important one considering that we're in our last year of elementary school. It was sort of like passing the baton off to the younger students. So far, Nebula has always been our grade leader, since we were in first grade.

"I hope you're not trying to run for grade leader again" A familiar obnoxious voice cuts in.

Crystal (and her twin followers of course) walks up to us, "We all know that it's going to be me this year"

"Yeah, last year she would have won if Nebula's mom hadn't shown up. She totally showed up because she knew everyone would kiss up to her and vote for Nebula" Rosey pointed at Nebula.

"And Crystal has won sub-leader every year too, she's bound to win this time!" Posey announces.

There were a few moments of silence before Nebula turned back to his speech on the table, "Maybe I could tweak it a bit. Add a few jokes here and there?"

"Nah you're not the type for jokes, "Candy waved her hand in a dismissing manner.

"Something motivational could work" I added.

"Oh well, I'll finish it later. Let's go" Nebula stands and walks away with us in tow.

The trio of bullies dropped their jaws at our sudden attitude, "Hey! Don't ignore us!" Crystal exclaimed angrily.

"Oh sorry, were you just saying something?" Nebula asked, "We have more important things we need to discuss, I hope you don't mind"

Crystal grits her teeth, "Fine. Just you watch 'your highness', This time you're going to lose"

"I'll be waiting" Nebula responded, still walking while they argued.

After she walks away, he sighs, "At least she's done bullying you" he looks up at me.

"Oh yeah, I just noticed! She doesn't even look at you anymore Autumn!" Candy thinks out loud as she jumps up on the fence we were walking by.

I try to remember the last time Crystal said anything mean to me but I only remember the first argument she and Nebula had. Is Nebula fighting with Crystal on purpose? To keep her distracted from me?

I suddenly get a warm feeling in my chest. To know that Nebula is actually standing up for me is-

Nebula stretches his arms and sighs again, "Why is she so upset with me anyway? I didn't do anything to her. Why doesn't she just go mess with someone else?"

"You embarrassed her in front of the whole school last week, remember?" Candy pointed out.

Nebula raises an eyebrow, "I did? Why would I do that?"

"Nevermind" I sigh.

"What was that Autumn?" Candy asks.

"Uh, I was just wondering when Uncle Discord was coming back, I still need to tell him that we found Nebula" I change the subject. We walk over a raised road that looks over a small forest of apple trees.

"Discord was the one who brought us here, correct?" Nebula asks.

"Yeah, he went to our world and scooped us up after we died" Candy explains enthusiastically before calming down and sheepishly smiling at me, "Well, almost all of us"

"It's okay Candy, I think I used to it already, " Say confidently.

Suddenly, Candy slips off of the fence and tumbles down the side of the cliff into a tree. She hits it head first. I watch in horror as she lays still for a bit before looking up with a cheesy smile. That fall should have definitely killed her.

"Oops, my bad" She rubs her bleeding head with a smile still on her face.

"Nevermind, I don't think I'll ever get used to this"

I honestly hope I never do.