Second Chances

"AAAAHHH!" I scream while sitting up in my bed. Footsteps get closer to my room. Then the door flies open and Mom rushes in.

"Autumn! Are you okay? What happened?" She asks frantically checking me for injuries.

"I-I had a bad dream" I whimper "I dreamed that I died in a-a crash and the people there all died too a-and-"

"It's okay sweetheart you don't have to tell me if you don't want to remember." She pulls me into a hug and rubs my back as I cry "shhh, it was only a dream. I'm here"

I do nothing but cry and hold onto her. This is what mom does whenever I cry. She doesn't try to get me to stop crying like most parents do. She allows me to let out all of my feelings and all she does is listen when I need her too. That's just her nature: Gentle and kind.

Then again she is the element of kindness.

"What's with all these damn lights on. Doesn't anyone in here care that I have work tomorrow?" A gruff voice whines.

And he's not.

"I'm sorry dear," Mom apologized "Autumn just had a little scare that's all-"

"Again!?" He walks over and nudges mom out of the way so he's kneeling in front of me. "Listen, Autumn, You're a big girl now, almost ten years old, You can't wake up every damn night crying like a baby. Your mother and I need sleep!"

"But I-"

"No excuses. Now I want you to go back to bed and not one more sound tonight or I'm gonna!-"

"Case!" Mom yells completely out of character. She glares at him for a moment before forcing a smile "I think we're all a little tired now so why don't we just head off to bed?"

'Dad' gives me one last warning look before standing up and storming out. Mom watches him go and once he's out of sight she gives me a hug and a kiss before leaving too. I crawl back into bed and turn so I'm facing the window. That dream still isn't out of my head. It felt so real, or rather like a memory.

I wish I could ask Auntie Twilight to send a letter to Princess Luna but I don't want to bother either of them with something as silly as a nightmare. Maybe I'll ask Candy about it tomorrow.

Candy? That was one of the names of the people in my dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know if you keep eating like that you're gonna be too heavy to ever learn to fly" Dad mumbles as he watched me place another pancake on my plate. I slowly put it back after he said that. And another.

"Dear, it isn't nice to comment on a lady's weight," Mom says as she places the pancake back on my plate. "I sounded a bit like Auntie Rarity didn't I?"

I nod while giggling. Dad glances at us before mumbling something to himself. Probably "Whatever" or "To hell with it" Like he always says.

"All I was saying is she needs to start flying soon or she'll end up like that crazy person who does nothing but scooter tricks" He spat.

"But it's her talent, Dad. Plus she does it at big events like the wonder bolt shows and other important events" I explain.

"If your going to have a useless talent like that then at least have a real job on the side. Something important like a lawyer" He says gesturing to his talent/cutie mark on his shoulder, A gold balance scale.

"I kind of like making medical creams and other things so maybe a pharmacist?" I suggest quietly.

"With a name like 'Autumn Crocus'? Yeah, good luck trying to get any customers. You can thank your mother for allowing a monster to name you" He says shifting his eyes to a picture on the wall. It was the one that mom took of me and Uncle Discord on my third birthday. I was smushing cake all over his face as he laughed.

"I thought it was a beautiful name," Mom says as she sat down.

"Until you found out it was the name of a poisonous flower" He takes a sip of his coffee only to find it empty. Instead of asking he just looked at mom and shook his cup. She sighs and stands up once again and takes his cup for him.

"You should get going sweetheart or you'll be late for the bus" Mom says from the kitchen. I look at the clock before stuffing the rest of my breakfast in my mouth and hopping out of my chair.

"Bye mom," I say as I open the door "...Dad"

With those words, I closed the door and ran down the dirt road. Behind me, I hear a pitter-patter of tiny paws on the ground and immediately knew who it was. I stop suddenly making the small creature up into my legs. I turn to face it to find my little fox cub friend.

"Sorry Khaos (Kaw-os) they don't allow animals in school," I say turning to him. His ears droop and he looks down. "But I guess if you stay quiet and in my bag, you can come" He perks up as I take my bookbag off and open it for him to jump in.

"Alright nice and snug?" He answers by rubbing his head into the extra sweater I brought in my bag "Good. Now let's go"

I continue to run until I got to the uneven paths. I usually fall when I run through these but I found a better way the other day. I conjure up my wings and crouch a bit.

Every Pegasus (At least what most would call us) has the ability to make their wings appear and disappear. It may seem useless but it is actually pretty helpful especially in the winter when you don't want to crush your wings underneath a coat or have holes in your jacket.

"It's gonna get a little bumpy now okay Kal?" I warn him. A shift in my bag lets me know he's ready. "Okay...Go!"

I jump as high as I can and open my wings as far as they can go. I feel myself gliding to the ground. When my feet touch the surface again I push my legs out even harder, launching myself even higher up. I'm higher than the trees now and I can hear the sound of people talk as I get closer. I continue this until I see the bustling town of Smallville.

"There's the bus stop!" I say. Then I start to panic when a familiar yellow vehicle shows up. "And there's the bus!"

How am I supposed to get down fast enough now? I Try flapping a bit but it's only making me fall straight down. Then someone crashes into my side. We both land in a cloud groaning in pain and trying to untangle from each other. White hair is on my face.

"Hey, don't you know this is a flying zone. You can't just tread in the middle of the sky like that!" The person exclaims. "Hey, I know you. You're the girl who poisoned Crystal Lace!"

"I d-didn't poison her. I told her that cream wasn't for her face" I say flustered. "besides I said I was sorry"

"Either way it was hilarious! Her face looked like a monkey's butt!" He said pressing his cheeks together "Like this but all red and sweaty"

I couldn't help but laugh at his joke.

"My name's Quicksilver. And I already know yours but you might as well tell me"

"I'm Autumn"

"Just Autumn?" He questions.

"Autumn C-Crocus"

"Aren't those poisonous flowers?" He says scratching his head in thought. "Well I still think it's cool"

"Thanks," I say "Wait. it supposed to be foggy today?"

As if the cloud was answering me it slowly faded out leaving me to fall to the ground. Before I made impact two arms wrapped around me.

"Gotcha!" Quicksilver says gently placing me on the ground "That was close"

"Thanks again. Oh no!" I quickly open my bag to find Kal upside down and looking very dizzy "Sorry Kal!"

"Is that a baby fox?" Silver asked slowly backing away.

"Yeah, his full name is Khaos but I call him Kal. Would you like to hold him?"

"N-no thanks, I'm...allergic," He says still backing away.

"Really?" I tilt my head in confusion "If you're just saying that cause you're nervous you don't have to be. Kal couldn't hurt a fly"

"W-well I can't cause...We have school!" He exclaims "That's right we missed the bus and now we're late!"

"Oh my goodness, you're right! We should get going" I bundle Kal back up in my sweater and place the bookbag on my back "Let's go!"

I start running with Silver flying ahead. We dodge through people and around the vendors in the square near the mayor's office. This would be a lot easier if Smallville was still, well 'small'. Over the years it grew into more of a city as technology and population grew. It wasn't as tall as Manehattan with all of the skyscrapers but it was certainly wider than before. Then again, I was only three when all of the expansions started.

"There it is! It looks like they didn't even start yet" Silver says as he looks ahead. "Everyone's still going inside"

"If they close the doors we'll have to wait for someone to see us then they'll call our parents," I say back. I really don't want to get a lecture from my father because I'm late. Or worse; Mom's store.

Suddenly Silver hooked his arms under mine, lifting me off of the ground. Ahead I can see the teachers starting to close the door. Silver speeds up and right before they close completely we slip in crashing to the floor. Everyone still in the halls along with our teachers has their jaws dropped. Then the principal shows up.

"Hi, Mrs. Cheerilee" Silver greets her with a nervous smile from being under her stern gaze.

"A-are we late?"

She doesn't say anything.

"We are?" He questions.

Silence.

"Would you like...an apple?"

...

"We're in trouble"