A Second Chance

"Found anything yet?" Twilight asked Josh as she opened another book and began scanning pages.

"Nope, I don't think we'll find anything about the Tree of Harmony." Josh said, as he closed his book and placed it aside, "That was my last book, how about you Twi?"

"Nothing." Twilight said as she let out an audible groan, closing the book she threw it at the wall in frustration as Spike entered the room.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Spike asked.

"I've gone through every book in Ponyville, Spike, and there isn't a single mention of the mysterious chest that came from the Tree of Harmony, nor anything about keys to unlock it!" Twilight said in annoyance.

"Can you think of anywhere else a book on it would be? I'm not an expert but considering how the chest came about, opening it should be a top priority." Josh added on.

"I hope Celestia get's back to me soon, if the library in Canterlot doesn't have anything, I don't know where else to look!" Twilight said as Spike burped up what looked like a letter.

"Whoa, is that normal?" Josh asked.

"Have you really never seen me do that yet?" Spike questioned.

"My dearest Twilight," Twilight began to read stopping the conversation, "while it would be perfectly lovely to have you in Canterlot once more, I have another option in mind much closer to Ponyville. As you know, the ancient castle that I once shared with Princess Luna lies mostly in ruins, deep in the Everfree Forest. But if you look carefully, you may find a book that could prove helpful to your research, hidden somewhere in what's left of the castle library." Twilight put the letter down.

"The castle of the two sisters." Josh remarked, "Is she sure the books are in a readable condition, place has been abandoned for a long time."

"I'm sure she wouldn't send us if it wasn't." Twilight sad, as she began using her magic to pack her saddle-bag.

"Right, well i'm coming with you." Josh said, getting out of his chair. "I've been meaning to check that place out."

"Oh really? What for?" Twilight asked.

"Oh...it's nothing, just curious about what's inside the place." Josh said, this was a lie but lucky for him Twilight had no reason to be suspicious.

"Great let's go!" Twilight said, "Oh and you can bring that sword if you want, you never know when you might need something." She added on.

Josh looked at his sword, it was sitting against the wall. Grabbing it, he looked into the blade, "Sure, but maybe we should try and find someone who sells a holder first. I don't feel like holding onto it the entire time."

"You mean a scabbard?" Twilight asked, "I think I know a place that sells them."

"Great, we can stop on our way." Josh said, "Now, let's hurry up and go." He said as he, Twilight and Spike began on their little adventure.

The trip took a bit longer than expected, thanks to the spur of the moment stop to grab a scabbard for Josh's sword. It was an hour wait because they had to make one as they others didn't fit Josh right. On the bright side he got some food. After the scabbard was finished Josh, Twilight and Spike quickly got back on track and luckily made it through the Everfree forest without trouble. Entering the decrepit castle, Josh felt a chill and it only grew more apparent as the walked into the main hall. As he stood in front of the two old and now abandoned thrones, his expression went blank as he recalled the duel he had witnessed but days ago.

"Hey." Twilight asked Josh, "Your expression went blank."

Josh shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "Yeah, just reminded me of something." He replied.

"Of what?" Twilight probed.

Josh paused for a moment before answering, "I never told you how I found the Tree of Harmony did I?"

"I don't think so, why did something bad happen?" Twilight questioned.

"Yeah but..." Josh stopped himself, "Forget it, it's stupid."

"Stupid?" Twilight lightly laughed, "If it matters to you, then i'm sure it's something important." She said reassuringly.

Josh let out a sigh, "Well, to make a long story short. I drank some kind-of potion and it showed me a vision of the past, but I didn't know this and so had conflicting feelings as I watched Celestia fight Nightmare Moon."

"What do you mean by conflicting feelings?" Twilight questioned further.

"Well you see, I assumed I was in the present. So when I saw Nightmare Moon fighting Celestia in a castle, and something was wrong with you not being there...." Josh stopped, "I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

"aww" Twilight cooed, "You really care about me, don't you?"

"What can I say, you've been so nice to me since I first got here so I.....uhhh" Josh stopped himself in embarrassment.

"So you what?" Twilight asked.

"ehhh...well you know...." Josh tried to delay his response.

"You like me, don't you?" Twilight said

"Yeah, b-but as a friend!" Josh said quickly.

"Whatever you say," Twilight responded, "anyway I think the library is this way." Twilight said as she began walking down a corridor.

Walking into the library Twilight was immediately ecstatic, she flew upwards in the room and spun around in joy.

" Wow! Look at all these ancient books! It's a veritable goldmine of information! I can't believe it! Woo-hoo!" She yelled out, as Josh walked next to Spike.

"So, where do we start?" Josh questioned.

"Oh right," Twilight realized landing, "You find anything that could relate to magical artifacts and landmarks."

"Got it." Josh said as he looked at the shelves, "None of these are labeled." He stated as he continued to scan the selves.

"Hmmmm." Twilight thought, "How about you look for a book related to a topic and start from there?" Twilight suggested.

"Good enough, see you in an hour." Josh said as he began walking and scanning book titles.

Making his way past shelves he didn't notice any books on the topic, until he saw one book that looked more beat up then the others. Picking up the book he read the title, "Stygian's guide to mythical creatures from Beyond Equestria". The title intrigued Josh, quickly checking if Spike or Twilight was near him he sat down against the wall and began reading. Well he tried but it was pretty dark in the castle, he didn't have a candle so he began searching his body for anything he can use. He felt something in his pocket and taking it out, he found his phone.

"Huh, forgot I had this." Josh said as he turned it on, lucky him it was at 75%. Quickly turning on the flashlight app he shone the light at the book and found a page guide, he looked over the names of different beast. He could see things he recognized from different earth mythologies such as Centaur, Cerberus, Cyclops, Dragons, Gargoyles and a lot more. But he also saw some he had never heard of like Draconequus, Diamond Dogs, Changelings. But one thing he saw really caught his attention. He had to think for a second as he read the word, "Human" and as he did he sat in stunned silence.

"What? How is that possible?" He questioned as he quickly found the page number and rapidly flipped to it, finding the entry that seemed to be only one page he began reading it aloud to make sure he wasn't crazy.

Human:
Origin: unknown
Total Population: Unknown
Possible Ancestors: Primates
Life Expectancy: Unknown
Hostile: X
Sapient: 🗸
Magical properties: 🗸
Description: Human beings are creatures of unknown origin and existence. The only known human as of this writing goes by the name William, who has claimed to be 17 years of age. He possesses incredible magical potential and so far is our only source of information on his race. He is not hostile but does have a malevolent nature. His anatomy resembles that of a monkey or gorilla, however he walks upright on two legs. His physical strength is on par with that of most Earth Stallions and his intelligence is average for most ponies but he excels in swordsmanship, something most ponies could only dream of. As of writing this, he is currently under the tutelage of Star Swirl the bearded.

-Stygian

"No, it can't be!" Josh yelled out as he threw the book in anger. "He's not real, he can't be real!"

Just then Josh felt a hand grab his shoulder, "Still denying that I exist?" William said as he appeared next to Josh.

Josh wasted no time in standing up, placing his hand on his hilt, "How?" Josh questioned.

"How what?" William asked.

"How can you be in this book yet the princesses don't know you?" Josh asked.

"Oh? None of them know about me?" William stated, "Or have you just never asked about it?"

"Celestia said-" Josh began.

"Celesita is a fool, and not the only princess." William spoke, "Tell me, have you ever thought about asking Luna about me? I mean she has blocked me out of your mind, or at least tried."

"No, I refuse to believe Luna would hide this from everyone." Josh said, his confidence shaken.

"Don't be so naive, you know it's true." William said laughing, "You really are pathetic."

"Is this all you want?" Josh questioned, "Just want to mock me?"

"No, I have come to make you an offer." William said as he extended a hand, "Join me, help me return to the physical realm and I will give you what you desire most. A way back home."

Josh's jaw dropped at this, he wasn't telling the truth was he? No of course not, no way this guy knew a way home. Josh took his hand off his sword's hilt, "You can forget it, you haven't given me a reason to trust you so go bother someone else."

William simply smirked at this, "I can tell you are conflicted, so I'll leave you to think it over." He said as he began walking away, "Oh, and I would watch your step." He said, snapping his fingers.

Almost instantly and as if on command the floor beneath Josh opened up and he began falling down, first he thought it was a free fall but then he found himself on a slide like contraption. The fall lasted for a solid minute and when he finished he flew out of a chute and slammed into a wall, he fell to the ground as he was knocked out cold.

Josh woke up on a stone floor, standing upright he held his head. "You know, I've hit my head enough here to start thinking I'm in a coma." Josh said aloud looking around, "Now where the hell am I?" Josh questioned.

Suddenly a dark shadow zoomed past him, splitting into two it floated into two statues of pony knights. Suddenly their eyes glowed a dark purple before they jumped from their spot in front of Josh, one was a unicorn and used magic to draw a sword, the other used it's mouth to grab and hold one.

"Magical ghost statues, honestly not as shocked as I should be." Josh said as he drew his sword, "Alright, guess this will be good practice."

Josh ran towards the two statues, he swung his sword at the Unicorn statue who easily blocked it. Josh continued to slash at the statue however he didn't have any strategy or knowledge on sword fighting, just then he noticed the Earth pony statue running towards him. Moving out of the way he moved his sword to block he had to use all he could to block the attacks, they may have been statues but whatever was possessing them was trained in swordsmanship. Soon the Unicorn joined in and Josh had to parry two opponents.

Jumping backwards, Josh stood in front of the two statues. "Damn it, if only I-" Josh stopped himself mid thought, lifting both hands he began to concentrate on the statues and soon a white magical aura surrounded the two statues. Picking the statues he threw them at a nearby wall, both the statues and the walls broke and Josh surprisingly heard a female screaming.

"Who's there?" Josh asked, "Show yourself!" He yelled.

Just then, through the hole a terrified Rainbow Dash creep through the hole. "Rainbow Dash?" Josh questioned confused, "What are you doing here?"

"O-oh, Josh it's just you." Rainbow said nervously, "I knew this castle wasn't haunted."

Just then one of the statues fell on top of Rainbow Dash, who ran screaming in fear. "Rainbow Dash!" Josh yelled out chasing after her, however she was much too quick for anyone to keep up. As his running turned to a walk he began to notice how creepy the place really was. It was dark and silent, and Josh began feeling uneasy.

"Keep it together Josh, nothing else bad is going to happen." As he said this, Josh felt something land on his shoulder. Looking at it he small a spider about the size of his palm, "AH!" Josh let out a terrified scream as he swiped it off and began running. He was absolutely terrified of spiders. As he ran through the hallway he looked behind him to make sure it wasn't following him, or god forbid more spiders joined in. However he quickly learned this was a bad idea as he ran full force into a massive spider web.

Getting up he tried to shake the webs off him but soon felt a bit itchy. Shaking his shirt he saw about ten small spiders crawl out of his shirt. He screamed at the top of his lungs before running away full speed, as he ran he found himself in a courtyard. He heard thunder, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. He began to back up, soon bumping into something he heard four other ponies scream before he turned around to see Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack all in a state of terror. He watched as they ran around the courtyard, bumping into things, knocking stuff over. He was about to start laughing, until the mother of all spiders crawled out of his pant legs. It was the size of a brick and Josh briefly joined the choir of terror as he ran behind a pillar and shook in fear.

"Alright, everypony, stop!" He heard Twilight yell before Josh saw her magic freeze everypony else in place.

"Twilight?" Applejack questioned.

Josh got out from behind the pillar and ran towards Twilight, "Oh Twilight, thank the stars your here." He said, out of breath.

"Josh? I thought you went home, what the hay happened to you?" Twilight asked.

"I fell down a trap door and got attacked by these statues and," Josh shuddered as he spoke, "spiders."

Rainbow Dash let out a small laugh, "You're afraid of spiders?"

"Hey!" Josh yelled out, "They were huge!"

Just then Rainbow looked down from her frozen spot, "Fluttershy? What are you doing here?"

"She's with me..." They heard Rarity say, who was under a fallen banner.

Twilight unfroze everyone and threw the banner off of Rarity, who thanked her. Twilight walked to the middle of the courtyard and began speaking, "Have you all spent the whole night running around, scaring each other?" She asked.

"That depends...." Applejack said.

"On what?" Twilight asked.

"On whether or not you're the Pony of Shadows." Rainbow said, pointing at Twilight while hovering in front of her.

"Pony of shadows?" Josh questioned, "What's that?"

"Just an old ponies' tale" Twilight said before the sound of an organ thundered through the castle.

Everyone huddled around Twilight in fear, even Josh Stood a little closer.

"Then what was that?" Spike asked.

"We're going to find out." Twilight said as she began walking, the others soon followed. They followed the sound of the organ through the castle halls, it grew louder with every step they took. Soon they reached a large room with an organ in it and someone playing. They all gasped seeing this.

"The pony of shadows!" Twilight said in a wispier, before walking towards them.

Josh watched nervously as Twilight walked closer and closer, reaching the figure she pulled the robe off the figure to reveal....Pinkie Pie?

"Hey, you guys! Did you know I can totally play the organ? Because I didn't!" Pinkie said, giving the group her trademark smile.

"Pinkie?" Everyone questioned in unison.

"Check it out!" Pinkie said, as she began playing the organ once more.

"Your the pony of shadows?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew up to her friend.

"The pony of what?" Pinkie asked.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" Twilight said.

"I thought you went to ring the school bell all week!" Applejack asked Pinkie.

"Oh, yeah! I only had to ring it for, like, five minutes! They said that was good enough! Eh, can't imagine why." Pinkie said as she stopped playing, "So then, I decided to throw a "finish ringing the school bell" party! But I didn't have any bluebells, and you can't throw a "finish ringing the school bell" party without bluebells, so I went to Everfree Forest to pick some, but it started to get so chilly. I had to wrap myself up in the tarp I was gonna use to gather flowers, and then I saw Fluttershy and Rarity. But they went into the castle before I could invite them to my party. Luckily, I followed them inside so I could help you all with your party!" Pinkie explained cheerfully.

"Party?" Josh questioned confused.

"What party?" Rarity asked.

"Uh, the "everypony come to the scary old castle and hide from each other while I play the organ" party?" Pinkie pie said as if it was fact, she pressed an organ key as she said this causing a trap to trigger flinging Spike up in the air and throwing him back. "Duh!" Pinkie Pie finished as she hopped away.

"So Josh, what happened to you?" Twilight asked as she, Josh, AJ, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sat in what Josh presumed to be an old room of Celestia and Luna.

"I already told you, trap door, haunted statues and spiders." Josh said.

"Are you sure they were haunted?" Twilight asked.

"Yes! They attacked me!" Josh said.

"Whatever." Twilight said.

Josh let out an annoyed sigh at this, "Anyway, what you got there?" He asked Twilight.

"Celestia and Luna's old Diary, I wasn't able to find much out about the tree but I'm glad I was able to help everypony else." She said.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Josh questioned.

"Well, we all let our imagination get the best of us." Applejack said.

"And Twilight helped us realize they are just that, our imagination." Fluttershy added as she hugged Angel.

"And I am glad I could." Twilight said with a smile.

"I do have a question though." Rainbow Dash said, "Why weren't you scared?" She asked Twilight.

"Well reading Celestia's diary made it hard to be afraid, because I knew what it was like when she and Luna lived here. Knowing something about the past made it easier to deal with my problems in the present, even the scary ones." Twilight said, as everyone remarked in agreement.

Suddenly, Twilight's face lit up. "I've just thought of a great idea! Why don't we keep a journal, just like the royal pony sisters?" Twilight asked everyone enthusiastically.

"All of us?" Fluttershy asked.

"Sure! That way we can learn from each other! And maybe someday, other ponies will read it and learn something, too!" Twilight answered Fluttershy.

"What a splendid idea!" Rarity added on.

"I know what my first entry will be! "Dear Diary, I'm glad Granny Smith's legend wasn't true."" Applejack jokingly said.

"Me too!" Rainbow said.

"Me three! Because that means you two are still tied for Most Daring Pony!" Pinkie said, causing Rainbow Dash and Applejack to give each other a competitive look.

"Right, you guys have fun with that journal thing." Josh said laying back.

"Why don't you do it too?" Twilight asked.

"Me? Nah, I don't have anything to teach anyone." Josh said.

"You sure? Who knows, maybe you have more to share then you know!" Twilight said, enthusiastically.

"Alright fine, but don't blame me when it's bad," Josh said.

"Heh, Shadow Ponies... How ridiculous is that?" Spike said, chuckling.

"Oh Josh, did you find anything on the Tree of Harmony?" Twilight asked.

"No but I did find one book..." Josh said.

"Oh? What was in it?" Twilight questioned.

"Oh....Just some mythical beast and things." Josh said.

Twilight gave him a suspicious stare, "Your hiding something, what is it?" Twilight asked.

"It's nothing..." Josh said.

"Joshua......" Twilight pressed further.

Josh let out a sigh, "None of you can tell anyone else what I tell you today, not even the princesses." Josh quickly said, his voice going to a serious tone.

"What is it?" Twilight nervously asked.

Josh was silent for a moment before he spoke, with perfect clarity and without stuttering he spoke. "I'm not the first....." He said, at first everyone looked confused. Everyone but Twilight.

"You mean?" Twilight asked, before being interrupted by Josh.

"I found a book written by someone named "Stygian" about mythical beast, I flipped through it and I found a page....on Humans...." He said, causing everyone to realize.

"Stygian....I've heard that name before..." Twilight said.

"Hold on, the princesses said you are the first Human in all of Equestrian history!" Rainbow said.

"Yeah, and that's what worries me." Josh said, "Because that means they are lying, or..........."

"Or what?" Applejack nervously asked.

"Or something far worse than what I can think of....." Josh said, causing everyone to be nervous.

"Do you have the book?" Twilight asked.

"No, but I can go find it." Josh said, getting up.

"Please do, and once you find it go straight to Golden Oaks." Twilight told Josh, who nodded before running off.

Twilight watched him run off, and she worried. Why would knowledge of Humans be suppressed? Are the Princesses lying? Twilight could only wonder as Josh slowly disappeared down the halls of the castle.