A Second Chance
Written and Edited by: Little Storm Cloud
Proof-Read by: Cessoe, Princess Shadow
It was a normal day in Devonport. Regular Tasmanian weather: cloudy with a chance of a light shower. All was pretty well. I was walking through the streets, looking in store windows, saying hi to people I knew. I was happy.
Traffic was pretty busy. It was Saturday, so the streets were crammed with cars. People wanted to get any shopping done fast, so they could get home and relax before Monday. Kids ran around the streets of the busy city, not caring for their safety. This worried me because on a day like this, somebody could easily get hurt. Luckily, there was a policewoman who escorted them to their parents. At least the police did their job.
It was almost one and I hadn’t had lunch yet. Being the lazy young adult I was, I always forgot to eat. Studying does that. I thought of all the places I could eat. There was McDonalds, Subway, a Japanese place and a few little cafés. After a moment of contemplation, I settled for Subway, mainly because it was across the street and I was too lazy to walk somewhere else to eat.
I started to walk a little faster so I could reach my destination faster and because Subway had really good food. I reached the edge of the sidewalk, then began to jog across the road. I was about a quarter of the way across the road before I realized my mistake.
I had forgotten to check for cars.
A second later the wind was forcefully knocked out of my lungs and pain erupted like a volcano all up my left side. I heard snapping noises and the world went black. The excruciating pain lingered a little longer before I felt very numb. One last thought went through my head before I shut down permanently.
You idiot.
I awoke in a meadow of flowers. It was a nice meadow, luscious green grass with daisies and dandelions scattered about. There were some flowers I didn’t know the name to, but they came in many colors, Blues, greens, yellows, reds, pinks and purples. It was peaceful.
The skies were a brilliant blue, the sun shining its warmth upon me. I felt content. I thought about how I had gotten here, but nothing came to mind. “Strange.” I said aloud. I thought a little more, about my life and family. Still, nothing came to mind. I thought about other aspects of my personal life, but all I came across was a blank slate in my mind.
“Well, this is inconvenient.” I said. I stood up and fell instantly. Four limbs seemed normal to me; I just couldn’t use them properly. After a minute of failed attempts to stand correctly, I got the hang of it. I stood for a full thirty seconds before trying to move. I tentatively put a hoof forward. Then another. Then another. I managed to start walking, or more correctly, trotting. After about four steps I heard a crunching sound from underneath me. It surprised me enough to make me fall flat on my flank. I looked at where the sound came from. There was a piece of white material; paper to be exact.
My curiosity piped up. A piece of paper in a meadow? Surely it wasn’t there on purpose. Someone must have dropped it by accident. Or worse, on purpose. It could be litter, placed there by some felon on a mission to destroy the environment! Probably not though. I settled on thinking it must have blown its way here.
Since leaving it there would make me feel bad, knowing that it could be recycled, I picked it up. I t wasn’t scrunched like I thought it would be, just a little crumpled from where I trod on it. I flipped it over to see if it had anything of interest written on the back. My curiosity was rewarded when I saw there was writing on the back. It read: ‘You have been given a second chance. Use it wisely.’
Looks like some lucky person was given a second chance at something! Maybe a course in in the educational system, or a second chance with their lover. The possibilities were, like, endless!
I decided to not dwell on what the writing meant and instead try and find a recycling bin of some sort to dispose of the paper. I looked around the area only to find more meadow. I took a look into the distance and saw a town. It was about a kilometer away. Maybe there was a recycling bin there!
I had just reached the outskirts of the town when I was approached by a pony, a pony with a fluted horn on its head. I could just have easily called it a horse, but pony seemed more fitting for some reason. The horn must have meant it was a unicorn. That in turn probably meant it could use magic! Magic seemed to be an amazing concept to me, as it could be so useful. I looked up at my forehead, trying to spot a horn, but to no avail. It would have been nice to have one. They looked pretty nice.
“Hey there!” He said “Welcome to Westbridle! You must be new here, I can tell by the way you look. You’re a bit to scruffy, so you must ‘ave been travelling.”
This stallion seemed like a nice pony. He was friendly, had a cream colored coat and a pale blue mane. He wore a welcoming smile on his face that genuinely made me want to hug him. I took the scrap of paper out of my mouth and held it to the ground with my hoof and replied to him “Yes, I suppose I am new here. I woke up in the meadow over there,” I motioned to where the meadow was “and found this paper. I came here hoping to find a recycling bin to put it in.” I smiled, as this was an opportunity to make a friend.
“What were you doin’ up in the dreary meadows? Nopony ever goes up there anymore. Dunno why.” He wore a confused look as he spoke, telling me that he was confused. I was truly a master of reading facial expressions.
“I just… woke up there! I guess that’s what happened because that’s all I can remember of today. Or any day, but that doesn’t matter. So do you know where I can find a recycling bin… uh…” I struggled to find a name I could call him by.
“Nook. I have a twin sister named Cranny. Don’t ask. But I do know where you can find a recycling bin! Follow me.” He motioned with his hoof for me to follow him and I did so.
As we cantered along Nook began a conversation “You seem kinda strange. So you just woke up in the Dreary Meadows?”
“Yes, I did. You failed to mention where Westbridle was.” I said in reply.
“Westbridle’s on the far east side of Equestria.” He spoke as if he told somepony three times a day.
“Equestria… so that’s where I am?” I asked “What’s the government like?”
Nook stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me worried. “You ain’t got a clue about anything, do you?”
I was taken aback slightly, but I replied quickly “Well, I’ve only been awake for about an hour.”
“What’s your name?”
Nook had just asked a question I wasn’t ready for. I hadn’t a clue what my name was. This was a problem. What were ponies going to refer to me as? Newcomer from the Dreary Meadows?
“I-I don’t know” I stumbled on my words a little. I had no idea what to do.
Nook was lost in thought for a second, then a metaphorical light bulb lit up in his mind. “I got an idea! Come with me, you’re seein’ wise ol’ Books. He’ll know what to do!” He literally began dragging me to somepony I didn’t even know. Then again, I didn’t know anypony.
The pony I only knew as Books definitely looked wise and old. He had a grey mane and a long wispy grey beard. His coat was chestnut brown and his eyes were a glinting silver that mesmerized me when I looked into them.
Books ran the biggest library in Westbridle. Or that’s what Nook told me. The library was about twenty square meters. Nook also told me that Books lived in the library, which was believable as he sat in a very comfy looking chair made of red velvet that was piled with cushions.
“Nook, what are you doing here this time? If it’s about that book on mass teleportation I already told you it won’t be here for three more days!” his voice was raspy, like someone who hadn’t drank for a day. He more wheezes than spoke.
“No, Mister Books, this is important. This here pony claims he woke up in the Dreary Meadows and can’t remember a thing! Not even our humble ruler, Celestia!” Nook seemed a little panicked over my state of mind. Surely I was only born today? But then how was I so big?
Books stroked his beard “Hmm, that is a predicament indeed.” He looked at me “Tell me son, what is your name?”
For the second time today, I answered the question in the only way I could. “I don’t know sir. Nook mentioned a Celestia just now. Who is that?”
Nook looked even more shocked than before. He must have a condition that makes him looked shocked every time he was asked a question. Either that or I’m saying things that shock him. Either or.
“Princess Celestia is goddess of the sun and rules the land of Equestria with her younger sister Luna. Luna is goddess of the moon. You, my friend, need some help. Nook, go get books on basic Equestrian history, Equestrian holidays, Equestrian lifestyle and a book on flying. We’ll need all of them for young Wind here.”
Books had given me the information that I needed to get up to date with Equestria. I’d learnt that Celestia and Luna ruled in harmony, that Nightmare Night and Hearth Warmings were the biggest holidays, that Winter Wrap Up was one of the biggest community events and that I was a pegasus. I was reading through a chapter of a book called ‘Flying for Dummies’. The title seemed very familiar, though I ignored the feeling and continued reading the book whilst performing an exercise from earlier in the book.
The exercise required me to stretch my wings while flapping them. Easier said than done. My wings hurt after about a minute of the exercise. It was made to strengthen my wings faster than normal flapping exercises.
Before now, I had never taken a good look at myself. I was a steel grey pegasus, with a black mane that had a dull grey streak through it. It wasn’t a bad look. My eyes looked a little too large for my head, but they had brilliant blue irises, like the ocean.
Books had given me a name, he said it was a good name for me and that it would be a fitting name for a pegasus. He gave me the name Wind Whirl.
Nook had offered me a room in his home and I graciously accepted his offer. Since I had no bits, the currency of Equestria, I had no place to stay. I also had no source of income, meaning no food or water was easily available to me.
Nook was a kind unicorn. His cutie mark was a stone with a crack in it. He said he got his cutie mark because he could hide things. As a foal he said he had always won hide-and-seek, and when his sister came to him with a secret he would have to hide forever, he got his cutie mark. Cranny was basically the same as him, except her cutie mark was an alley. She apparently she was really good at invisibility spells.
My cutie mark was what seemed to be two ‘I’’s. I soon learnt it was the ancient pegasus numeral for two. One was black and the other was white. It adorned my grey flank and fit in well. The colors contrasted well with one another.
I finished up the chapter and exercise and went downstairs. Nook was listening to a radio in the living room. He was listening intently.
I approached him and asked “Why are you liste-“ I was abruptly cut off.
“SHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” he went. It sounded like a steam engine just stopped in a station. So I sat down and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Suddenly, an advertisement came on. It was for some spots in the weather team.
Nook pointed at me “You’re gonna learn to fly. Then you’re gonna join the Westbridle Weather Team. Got it? It's a good pay job too!”
I nodded. It seemed like a good job.
All I had to do is learn to fly.