Second Chances

Autumn's POV

The grade president election day

"Just a second" Candy hums for the thousandth time.

She continuously works her fingers through Nebula's hair, gelling it down. Meanwhile I straightened his tie.

"Thank you for helping me, but I would have been fine without the gel" he stands uncomfortably stiff. I guess he's not used to others being this close to him.

"Nonsense" Candy says in English (was that a BNHA reference?), "You have to make a good impression on everyone. You're running against Crystal, the queen of the school, if she can scare a few students into voting for her, she'll win!"

"I don't think it's that serious Candy" I say, "Sure Crystal might be intimidating, but I'm sure she can't manipulate that many people. Can she?"

"A hand full? Yes, I'll give her that much," Nebula chimes in, "When she's being rational, she's very persuasive and cunning. She tried to convince me earlier to give up, and it seemed like it would work is she tried it on someone else. It's a shame that someone with a talent for speaking has to be borderline dictating"

I furrow my eyebrows as I finished fixing Nebula's tie, "Do you think, Typhon is like that?"

"Hm?" "Huh?" Nebula and Candy sharply look up with shocked looks. We haven't discussed Typhon at all since we first learned of him, so me bringing him up all of a sudden must have surprised them.

"I was just thinking. It's not like he's some mindless monster. He was royalty, the closest person to a prince and a government official" I step back after finishing the tie, "I was just wondering if destroying equestria is really what he wants"

Nebula picked up his speech, "Its hard to say. We have no way of knowing. It's not like any of us have any experience with villains, much less how they think"

"Yeah, it's kinda weird how just a few weeks ago, we were normal kids, and now we're getting ready to protect equestria by giving a speech to our elementary school" Candy looks at us and laughs hesitantly.

We stare at her blankly for a moment before Nebula spoke, "Well, now our plan sounds stupid"

Candy and I burst into laughter.

"We will now be starting the 5th grade presidential speeches" We hear Principal Cheerilee announce.

"Well you better get out there," I say to Nebula, "good luck"

"Knock em dead Nebby!" Candy roughly ruffles his hair, ruining the work she just did, "oops"

"Its fine, I'll just use this" He pulls out a certain starry hair pin and uses it to hold his hair back.

"You still have it? After all this time?" I ask.

"It comes in handy" he shrugs and heads for the stage.

I smile and turn to Candy "Let's go find a seat"

"What was that all about?" She asks as she looks back and forth between Nebula and I.

"I'll tell you later" I pull her along to the auditorium, "Anyway, this will be the fifth year that Crystal has been elected for this. After so many tries you would think that she would give up"

"Nuh uh, not Crystal Lace. She would try to pull dirty tricks by now" Candy crossed her arms.

"Which is exactly why we should keep an eye out. She could try to sabotage Nebula's speech" We spot some open seats near the back, "Let's sit back here. If anything goes wrong with the stage, or someone gets up, we can spot it right away"

"Right" Candy looks over the huge crowd with wide eyes, "I think the whole 5th grade is here. This will make thinks very easy"

I shake my head, "Its a start, but it would be better if the whole school was here. That's why Nebula has to win this part and at least get to the finals"

I scan the stage once again, but I only see Nebula.

"Do you think Crystal is late?" I ask.

"Hopefully, if she takes to long to get here, then she'll be skipped" Candy puts her hands behind her head, "It'll make things easier"

"But still. She said that she was going to beat Nebula this year. And she sounded sure too, so, why would she be late when this is so important?" I tap my fingers on my chair anxiously.

"Wait, isn't that her right there?" Candy sits up and points down to the front of the row of chairs. Rosey and Posey sat one chair length away from each other, leaving one empty seat between them. Then, a familiar head of purple hair sits between them.

"What is she doing?" I ask.

"Maybe she gave up after all?" Candy suggests.

I continue to stare at Crystal. As if she felt my eyes studying her, she turns and meets my eyes before waving. It doesn't seem sarcastic or Ill intended.

"No, she couldn't have," I whisper back to Candy, " Crystal would do everything in her power to ruin anyone who stands up to her, it's why I or anyone else for that matter, never did"

She suddenly stands up, and makes her way to us, " Hey girls, mind if i sit with you?"

She asked in such a genuine way, that it almost frightened me, "No, not at all?" I answered, but it sounded more like a question.

She smiles and takes a seat, "Listen I just wanted to apologize for how I've been acting and how I've treated you. You see, I never hated you guys, and I don't know why I acted like I did"

We started at her with wide eyes, ignoring Cheerilee talking and only listening to her apologies.

"I know I did a lot of mean things and i embarrassed you a lot, and so many more things that i can't even count" she looks back up at the stage, watching as Nebula settled into his chair, "I called you guys dumb and stupid but you're actually very smart"

"I'm sorry I'm late!" A voice calls out. Another student runs onto the stage and takes Crystal's place.

"Unlike your friend up there. You guys understand who's more superior and you respect me much more than he does" she scoffs her false smile disappearing.

I get a glimpse of the real Crystal as she spoke and panicked. I stood up and looked at the stage.

"I can't stand him. He thinks he can just embarrass me, and dethrone me. Trying to become a normal person after hiding out in a hole"

The girl on the stage went up to the podium first and began to speak.

"It would have been much better if he just stayed in that damn hole" Crystal spat, her voice becoming much more venomous.

I grab her shoulders and slightly shake her, "What's going on?! What did you do?!"

"What's wrong with you Crystal? You're starting to look scary" Candy shrunk away to Crystal.

It was true, she didn't have the usual upset look. She looked much more horrifying than usual.

This girl on stage finished her speech and everyone erupted into applause. I can see the worried look on Nebula's face. I thought it was the speech that had him worried at first, but I realized that it wasn't worry, it was pain.

Cheerlilee called him up the the stands next.

"I've had enough of him, it's time for him to go back down to hell," Crystal smirked, "He just needed someone to pull him back down"

Suddenly a loud crashing sound occurred, when I looked up, Nebula wasn't there except for a hole where he once stood.

Everyone gasped and yelled when it happened, but Candy and I were in too much shock to respond. So Crystal did for us.

"Nebula!" She yells as she shoved my hands off of her and head towards the stage.

Not before giving me a smug look.