A Second Chance

Meanwhile, at the spa in Ponyville

"That was when they learned there could be harmony between each other, so they settled their differences and lived together in harmony, naming the land Equestria." Bulk then moves on to the last part of his body to start finishing up the first massage session before moving on to the next spa treatment.

I let out a half chuckle and say, "Well, at least they managed to get along with each other, wish I could say the same for where I came from. I might just try to make a trip to Canterlot to see the play for myself, any clue as to what time the play is?"

He then finishes the massage and says, "YEAH, THE PLAY IS TOMORROW AND STARTS AT 4:00. FOLLOW ME, WE WILL BE DOING THE STEAM BATH NEXT, YEAH!"

I smile and roll over, then sit up and stand up off the table. I then follow him while rolling my shoulders and say, "Damn my body feels good after that massage, I may have to come here again sometime."

Rarity relaxes on the table as she enjoys the luxurious treatment when she sees Bulk bring Arthur Morgan into the large bathing room where they do the various bath treatments, the seaweed wrap, and the facials. She follows him with her eyes, stunned at how toned his body is. Seeing a few scars on his chest and abdomen where previous injuries were at, and watches him walk through the room saying, "Hello Arthur darling, how are you?"

I turn my head to look over at Rarity and smile saying, "For once in my life, my body feels pretty good. I'm here because my curiosity got the better of me, there wasn't anything quite like this where I came from." I feel a coughing fit coming on and bring the cloth up to my mouth, then cough into it a few times before spitting out some blood that is in my mouth.

She watches Arthur follow Bulk to a side room where the steam bath is and smiles saying, "It is good to hear that you are feeling better darling, though it is sad to hear that your other world has not considered building a place where one could go to receive such marvelous treatment. It really is a shame, they are missing out on such luxurious services you know?"

I chuckle and smile back at her then say, "It kinda is. The reason for that is that there was a war in the land a century ago that was fought to gain freedom from a nation far away. After managing to win the war, the nation named itself the United States of America. The citizens of the young nation went into the unexplored land and made their homes there, eventually being recognized as territories. Those territories' populations increased and were eventually declared states by the government. Then several decades went by and another war broke out in the United States, splitting it into the Union and the Confederacy." I let the smile on my face turn into a frown as I look down for a moment, feeling a little upset about being reminded of my childhood through the years after the civil war. I then look back at her and continue saying, "I was two years old when that war ended with the Union claiming victory, leaving the soldiers to turn to being criminals or working for the railroad to make money to feed their families. To explain it in simpler terms miss is that people there are either crooked and rich, crooked politicians, crooked and just plain mean, honest and poor, honest and homeless, or honest and starving. The nation is full of people that have their own desires and are driven by greed, and there are many like them that hold power. They use that power to improve their own lives at the cost of other people's misery." I then sigh and change the subject saying, "That play about the founding of Equestria is in Canterlot tomorrow, right?"

Rarity realizes she has been staring at him and shakes her head clear, then looks at Arthur curiously before letting out a sigh and saying, "That is dreadful to hear darling, how in Equestria do they tolerate living such dreary lives? To answer your question darling, yes, it is tomorrow. It usually starts at 4 p.m, do you plan to attend it?"

I place the forefinger of my right hand on either side of my chin and say, "Hmm...I don't see why not, how much does a ticket cost to see it?"

She thinks for a moment before answering, "A train ticket costs 2 bits, and admission costs 2 bits per pony, which is free for foals 10 and younger. The train ride takes 2 hours to reach Canterlot, you are welcome to travel with the rest of us if you wish darling."

I then scratch my cheek a little bit and say, "I will think on your offer, and will have an answer for you by sunset today. Thank you for offering me the chance to accompany you all to the play, I do need to visit you at your shop for your services. Do you mind if I come by after finishing my treatments here?"

Rarity smiles at him, nodding her head saying, "Of course you may come by darling, I love getting new customers."

I then nod my head to her and say, "Alright then, I shall continue on with the upcoming steam bath and will see you at your shop later. Good day, Miss Rarity."

She then waves at him and says, "See you later darling, you will not regret coming to the spa today." She then returns her head to the pillow, letting the masseur resume the treatment wondering, 'I wonder which side of that dreadful war Arthur's father fought on...'

Bulk leads Arthur into the room and says, "SEE THE PIT IN THE CENTER WITH THE HOT ROCKS IN IT? TO INCREASE THE TEMPERATURE AND AMOUNT OF STEAM, USE THE LADLE TO ADD WATER TO THE ROCKS. HAVE A SEAT AROUND THE PIT AND RELAX FOR A HALF HOUR AND I WILL RETURN TO BRING YOU TO THE NEXT TREATMENT, YEAH!" He then turns around and goes to tend to another customer waiting for their treatment.

I watch as he closes the door behind him, then turn my head back around to look at the pit, then the bucket of water with a large ladle resting across the top of the bucket. I walk over to the bucket, then kneel down to pick up the spoon. I then use it to scoop some water out from the bucket and slowly pour it onto the pile of rocks, watching as steam rises from where the water lands. I add another four spoonfuls to the rocks and set the ladle back on the bucket to add some more later thinking, 'This place is quite relaxing, I wonder if I'm the only one here from our gang?'

[RARITY'S POV]

I hear my friend Aloe make her way over to my table and say, "Oh dear, is it time for the mani-pedi already?"

She giggles and smiles, then turns to her answering, "Yes it is miss Rarity, time moves quickly when you are enjoying something, no? follow me please and we will begin your final treatment."

I then rise up from the table and sigh blissfully, feeling very relaxed as I then slide my legs off the edge of the table and reach for a towel. As I start to wrap the towel around my chest, I look down at my b-cup breasts for a brief second before securing the towel around my middle and getting up off of the table and onto my hooves with a smile before answering her, "Indeed. It does when you're having fun. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here every week. I always plan a visit before Hearth's Warming, like a little present for myself."

Pausing for a moment, I gesture for her to go on. "Lead the way darling. Oh, have you met our newest resident yet? His style is completely different from the usual garments I work with. Though, I wonder how he'd look in something more formal."

She smiles back and starts leading her to the room where the manicures and the pedicures are done saying, "Unfortunately I haven't, it seems somepony is interested in the new resident. I wonder if it is because of their clothing, or perhaps you might like to make a new friend?"

I then smile back at her and say, "Perhaps I could talk with him for a bit when he comes by later. I wonder if he'll ask me to make a new outfit for him. Whyever would he visit me, if not for that?"

She giggles again and joyfully teases me a little saying, "Perhaps he'll offer you dinner. It's been years since your whole fiasco with Blueblood. You're overdue for some fun."

With a nervous chuckle I say, "Oh d-d-darling, don't taunt my imagination." while feeling my face flush red.

Third Person Pov, inside the Changeling Hive

Colm gets up out of bed and looks over to the changeling queen and smacks her rump firmly and says, "Me and the boys are gonna screw with the ponies' happiness tomorrah morning, we'll be back sometime around noon."

Chrysalis grunts at the firm slap to her rear, turning her head to the side and cracking open an eye to look at him saying, "How many times must I tell you I hate being spanked. If you do that again, I am going to cocoon you and treat your whole gang like food. Do I make myself clear?"

He smiles and walks over to the desk and puts his shirt on, then looks back at her saying with a grin, "Oh ya tolerate it just because I'm so manly, just admit that ya like it already."

She growls a little and says, "Don't push your luck. Don't be afraid of water, it will not kill you to bathe once in a while."

Colm takes his gunbelt off the corner post of the bedframe, then starts to fasten it around his waist as he answers, "And wash away all of this manliness I worked so hard on? Not in a hundred years. It wouldn't hurt you to have some of your changelings illuminate the inside of this hive, me boys keep bumping into things cause it is so dark."

Chrysalis has had enough of his irritating banter for now and reaches for a dagger she keeps near the bed, then throws it at his head loudly saying, "SHUT UP."

He ducks down and lets the dagger soar past his head and laughs off her attempt to kill him saying, "Oh how kind of ya, but it's too early for foreplay." The dagger strikes the hard wall with a clang and clatters to the floor as he pulls his suspenders over his shoulders, then starts looking for his jacket.

She groans in frustration and sits up, then strikes the pillow with her fist shouting, "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

Colm shakes his head and sighs saying, "Jesus yer crabby in the mornings, go back to sleep already." He then exits the room and closes the door behind him, feeling better already after annoying the changeling queen yet again.

After spending several minutes navigating his way through the tunnels that serve as passages to the various chambers many feet below the surface, managing to find where his gang has made camp. Halfway to the chambers, he passes by a mirror and pauses to look at his neck, focusing on the noose-shaped ring around his neck that he was born with and remembers that day he was hung by the neck. Frowning at that terrible memory, seeing that grin on his face after he killed the one that was supposed to shoot the rope. He makes a fist and punches the mirror, making a spiderweb of cracks appear in the glass then turns away and resumes his journey mumbling, "Where ever you are Arthur, I hope you suffer a slow and painful death and burn in hell for you sealing my fate."

He continues down the tunnel and then turns left into the chamber where his gang is staying and says, "Alright boys, tell me about this train that is going to Canterlot..."

Near the Town Square of Ponyville

Celestia makes her way toward the town square and looks around at all the ponies that are gathering, feeling thankful that Twilight was able to inform the citizens so quickly.

Making her way onto the platform, she looks to the changeling disguised as a grey pegasus, having a light pink mane and cerulean eyes with a white cloud for a cutie mark and clears her voice to get them to quiet down and says, "Thank you for gathering on such short notice my little ponies, there is somepony that I need to introduce to all of you. Before she makes herself known, I must tell you that she means to do no harm to any of you. Now if you would, please come up here and introduce yourself to everypony."

Stealthy gulps nervously as she makes her way to the platform as all eyes start to turn to her, feeling beads of sweat appear and drip down her face thinking, 'I sure hope that these ponies will accept me even though I'm a changeling, maybe I should tell them the circumstances of why I am here.'

The princess stands to the back of the platform as Stealthy stands up front and begins telling them her name and thinks, 'This is going okay so far, let's keep watching to see how the crowd reacts to her being a changeling.'

She closes her eyes and tries to calm her racing heart, and takes a deep breath. Feeling her heart slow a little bit, she then looks to the crowd and says, "My name is Stealthy Strike, and I am a changeling." She hears many ponies in the crowd gasp in surprise and fear, noticing a few scowls among the crowd.

Celestia hears the crowd get louder, causing Stealthy to start backing up, signaling that she needs to settle the crowd down. She steps forward and stands beside Stealthy, placing her left hand behind the changeling's back and halts her slow retreat. Turning her head towards the crowd, she speaks up above the din saying, "I know many of you remember when Canterlot was assaulted by Queen Chrysalis and her changelings, some of you were there when it happened. Please quiet down and be kind enough to listen to what Stealthy Strike has to say."

Stealthy watches the crowd hesitantly calm down to let her speak as she gathers the courage to continue speaking, then takes a breath and starts to tell them her story, saying, "The story I am going to tell to you takes place in the Crystal Empire when a small group of renegades was tasked with kidnapping Princess Flurry Heart."

Celestia raises her voice a little and cuts her off, quickly adding, "She has been returned to her mother and father, so do not worry my little ponies because the ones responsible for the heinous act have been punished rather severely." She turns to Stealthy and apologizes for interrupting her saying, "I am sorry for interrupting you, but I needed to keep the crowd calm. You may continue sharing your story with them."

She nods her head saying, "Thank you, Princess Celestia." and looks back to the crowd, noticing a few young foals among the crowd, and decides to leave out several details before resuming her story, "I took a group of changelings to meet the renegades and bring Princess Flurry Heart to Queen Chrysalis..."

The crowd stays quiet and listens as she tells the story of how Arthur Morgan risked his life to fight off a large group of highly skilled changelings and was knocked out at the start of the fight, then woke up and dug her way through the collapsed tunnel and went to inform the queen about what had happened. They watch as she begins to look down in sadness with tears trailing down her face as she continues the story of how she was exiled, cut off from the hive, and then chased out of the hive for her failures.

Stealthy finishes her story and softly sobs over losing the only home she ever knew, no longer paying attention to her surroundings as her sobbing gets worse. She is startled when she feels someone wrap their arms around her, trying to comfort her

Celestia continues to hold her as her own eyes moisten at hearing her story saying, "Fear not little one, for you are safe here away from those that wish you harm."

Mrs. Cake feels sympathy for the poor changeling and makes her way towards the crying changeling. She arrives at the platform and walks up the three steps, then walks up to the pair and wraps her arms around the changeling and says, "It is sad you have lost your home, but you are now free from her tyranny and can do what you want to do with your life. I have not met him yet, but he seems like a good friend to have in difficult times."

Three hours later, after Arthur's treatments

I get dressed in my casual, semi-warm outfit and make my way to the front of the building. When I get to the counter at the front of the building by the entrance, I stop to pay the pony behind the counter when I glance up to see Soft Touch sitting behind it and ask, "How much do I owe you for the treatments that my partner and I got?"

Soft Touch then looks at the rate list for the treatments and sums up the amount owed and says, "The Diamond Treatment your partner got is 250 bits, and since you made a few slight changes to the Diamond Treatment you got, the price is slightly higher."

I nod my head, understanding what she means, and say, "Alright then, what's the price?" I then look down and dig into my satchel for my bag of bits to pay her.

She calculates the difference in price and says, "The price for your treatment is 300 bits, then there are the two suits you had that needed to be dry cleaned...and that brings the total up to 650 bits."

I find the bag of bits and pull it out, then set it on the counter and begin counting out the amount owed. After counting out 650, I count out an extra fifty for their services and say, "Here is seven hundred, there's an extra fifty as a tip for your excellent services provided." and drop the bits onto the counter.

Soft Touch takes the bits as a wide smile crosses her face saying, "We are glad that you enjoyed your treatments so much, your partner is outside waiting for you. Thank you for visiting Ponyville Day Spa, please enjoy your day and come again."

I tip my hat to her as she waves to me, then make my way towards the door and exit the building saying, "Have a good day as well miss." I look up at the bright blue sky above me and sigh blissfully, feeling better than I have for a long time. My reverie is ruined by a short cough, making me grab a kerchief to cough into. Once the coughing fit has passed, I look around the town to see everypony looking at me with concern on many of their face and put the kerchief in my pocket, and then briefly wave to them. I then start heading for Rarity's shop to see her about removing some stains from my clothes.

Lou walks beside him feeling relaxed and refreshed, prancing in place giddily saying, "Wow do I feel good... Hey boss, think you could afford to let me go there each week?"

I chuckle and shake my head saying, "Not with how pricey that treatment is, perhaps I could if the treatment had a lower fee. That sound fair to you?"

She stops prancing for a moment and walks beside him normally, then says, "Alright boss, that's fair. Where are we off to now?"

I then continue walking and say, "Well, we are off to Rarity's next so I can ask her bout her ability to remove stains. Might even get another warm coat for winter, and one for you too."

Lou smiles and walks across the snowy ground, the gentle crunching of the snow under her hooves as she follows him to their destination saying, "Thank you for showing that you do care about me."

I see Rarity's shop to the right and head towards the door, looking around at the decorations and lights the ponies have decorating their yards and houses. A smile makes its way to my face as I say, "Of course I care about you, I remember when I first found you and tried to tame you. It was lightly snowing out and when I finally managed to get on your back, I expected you to go nuts but you didn't. You played coy to get me to let my guard down, then you went absolutely berserk. Took me through trees, even dropped to your side to knock me off."

She giggles and laughs saying, "I remember that too, you landed on your back in a pile of crap the first time! I laughed at that and took off running again, but you got right back to chasing me."

I then chuckle along at remembering our first meeting and say, "Yeah, after I caught you once more and got on, you took off like a bullet and jumped across a river, knocking me off and dumping me into it."

Lou then looks away with a smile saying, "Well do you blame me, you smelled like a skunk!"

I then pat her on the neck saying, "Naw, I won't blame you. Though that didn't help with the smell at all, because when I caught you once more, you dumped me beside a frightened skunk!"

She drops her head and laughs a little harder saying, "THAT'S why you smelled even worse the next time you caught me?! You got sprayed again?!"

I then punch her lightly in the shoulder and chuckle saying, "Only because you scared the thing half to death jumping over that fallen dead tree! Oh we had a few good times, didn't we girl?" I then look around with a smile on my face then say, "We would've never seen anything like this back home Lou."

Rarity is at her boutique when she hears someone knock at the door and looks over her shoulder at it saying, "Come on in, I'm still open!"

I then walk into the doorway, looking around the room to see where Rarity might be at. I see her working away at a sewing machine and ask, "Greetings miss Rarity, do you mind if my companion Lou comes in?"

A broad smile crosses her face when she sees that it is Arthur and gestures for him to enter with her hand saying, "Of course I don't mind darling, come on in out of the cold. What can I do for you on this fine day?"

Lou waits for him to leave enough room for her to enter and follows him in saying, "Thank you for letting a large being like me come into your shop, miss Rarity."

I look around at the room, seeing strips and pieces of fabric lying everywhere, and ask, "What's with all the pieces everywhere? It looks like a stick of dynamite blew a pile of dresses to literal pieces."

Rarity gasps and then says, "Don't touch a single piece...it is organized chaos! Every piece lying around is a part of some client's order."

I nod my head and grin saying, "I wasn't intending to miss Rarity, the reason I came here was to inquire about your skill with removing stains from clothes?"

She narrows her eyes and scowls saying, "I absolutely...LOATHE STAINS! Which is why I make it my life's goal to get every single one out. Please show me what has the stains...so I can begin to obliterate them."

I pat my satchel hanging at my side and chuckle saying, "I hope you have a big enough table for me to put the stained clothes...because I have quite a few of them."

Rarity rises from her seat in front of the sewing machine and looks around for a big table, finding one with a pony-shaped mannequin on it with pieces of cloth scattered around the top of it. She then turns her attention to the scattered fabric pieces and begins sorting through them for the scrap pieces, tossing them into the scrap box and shifting the leftover pieces into groups to clear a space.

I watch as she moves the pieces around, managing to clear up a good-sized area on the floor saying, "Wow, you work quickly when you have magic at your disposal."

She then continues to move things around, not really focusing on him at all and says, "I will agree with you on that, it does make things easier. Please go ahead and start placing your clothing on the floor in the cleared area. If you could, please sort them in piles with one outfit per pile." and moves on to sorting through another pile.

I then sigh and begin pulling out the outfits I have, saying, "Alright then, let's see if I remember which outfits should be together..." I then glance up at Rarity and walk towards the very back of the area ahead of me saying, "Well, I'm gonna set the different hats I have out first at the top."

Lou watches with amusement as she notices how Rarity subtly looks back at him out of the corner of her eye while swishing her tail back and forth slowly, giggling quietly to herself as their eyes make contact. She forces herself to keep quiet as Rarity blushes and stops swishing her tail and turns her attention to Arthur saying, "That is one thing I never understood about you boss. Why did you collect so many things such as saddles, weapons, and various clothing apparel?

I continue setting out hats and chuckle saying, "Well I...I don't know. Shit, perhaps I just tend to enjoy collecting unique things. As for the weapons I collected, they were vital to keeping everyone safe when the shit hit the fan and those goddamned Pinkertons kept showing up."

Rarity pauses in her concentration on sorting the pieces out and nervously looks back at him while moving a lock of hair out of her eyes and asks, "U-Uhm...A-Arthur, are you going to be okay darling?"

I lift my head up from the floor and look at the worried expression on her face, making me sigh and say, "I'll be fine, I'm just thinking back on the past and regretting the choices we made."

She then sees him pull out a handkerchief and cough into it a few times, then returns it to a pocket. She sees his long, dark hair hanging past his shoulders and the trimmed beard on his face, finding herself lost in a brief fantasy where he rescues her from villains.

I then dig around in my satchel for the clothing that is in it and begin pulling out pieces of clothing then start setting them into piles when I hear her sigh strangely. I look up at her to see her holding her chin and gazing somewhere with a grin on her face as if in a dream and chuckle asking, "Having a good daydream miss Rarity?"

Rarity is yanked out of her fantasy and blushes fiercely at being caught in one and returns to moving bits of fabric around saying, "I was enjoying it until somepony tore me from it."

I grin and then say, "Don't be embarrassed, a few adults like us tend to do that from time to time." then resume pulling out clothing and putting them into piles.

She finishes moving fabric pieces around and sees the area filling up with somewhat neat piles and gawks at them all saying with shock on her face, "Darling, how on Equestria can that satchel hold so many clothes?"

I chuckle and continue piling them up saying, "Well Discord had something to do with some of my bags holding so much when I came over, but I don't know what exactly he did. I am sure that Twilight would love to figure it out though with how curious she is about everything."

Rarity giggles at that and nods her head saying, "Oh I am sure she would also."

I then remember that I was going to ask her about a new outfit for Lou and me, then look up at her and ask, "I was also wondering if you would be able to make a warm outfit for my companion and me? I have a couple to choose from, but Lou has nothing to help keep her warm. You saw her when we came out of that storm at the Crystal Empire, poor girl had ice hanging from her mane and tail with snow on her neck. Could you be able to make something for her so that it can help her stay warm?"

She then smiles and says, "Of course I can, darling. Just let me grab my measuring tape so I can take her measurements." She then pulls out her glasses and sets them on her nose, grabs her rolled-up tape, and heads over to where Lou is standing, saying, "Now let's see what I can do..."