Second Chances

Second Chances
By Hero541
Chapter 2: How Did I Get Here?

Josh’s head was swimming like crazy. All round him, everything was blurred, from the clock on the wall, to the girl in bed next to him. He had just finished having yet another one-nigh-stand with some skank he picked up after the show. Most people would give anything for the kind of life he was living. But to the young producer, it was nothing more than simple routine at this point.

“Hey there, handsome.” she said, turning to him, and tracing his smooth chest with a finger, “How was that for you?”

“Not too bad,” he replied, smirking as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag on it, “Then again, everything’s better when you’re high as fuck like we are.”

She half-giggled, half-snorted, and rolled back over and grabbing the mirror on the bedside table that still had a little blow left on it. Snorting deeply, she shouted as the drugs hit her nose.

“Fuck! Mother fucker! Goddamn, that one hurt.” she yelled, laying back down, a little blood trailing out of her nose.

“Take it slow there.” said Josh, handing her his cigarette to take a drag on it, “Don’t wanna overdo it.”

“You’d be surprised how much I can handle.” she replied, blowing a little smoke in his face as she exhaled.

Josh simply smiled a little. He’d heard that one before, from almost every easy girl he’d managed to pick up after his shows. After he left his room, he went to mingle with his fans a little, signing autographs (there’s always some crazy, over-caffeinated slut who wants him to sign her boobs), and talking with all kinds of people. All the while, however, he was searching for some loose chick to take out for a sex-filled night. He found just that in this rather wanton young woman, whose name he seemed to be having a hard time remembering.

They talked for a little while, but Josh was far from new to this kind of girl. He could sense that she was pretty desperate for some action, and he was all too willing to provide whatever excitement she craved. However, he figured he ought to tease her just a little, so they went out for drinks and did a few lines, the whole time she kept insisting that they go back to his room. Once Josh felt he’d had his fun, he was more than willing to get the ball rolling. And get it rolling they did.

They had completely skipped the foreplay, and just gone right to fucking like wild animals. Josh had no idea that a woman could be that flexible, or that loud. Now, however, after three rounds and a few more lines, Josh and his lover were pretty well spent, and all they wanted to do was just lie there. Well, she did, at least.

“Where’re you going?” she asked, watching as Josh crawled out of the bed and got dressed.

“Gotta go. I’ve got shit to do today. Thanks for the helping of pussy. I’ll be on my way though.”

“You’re just gonna leave me?!” she yelled, just missing his head with a pillow thrown at him, “You fucking piece of shit!”

Josh simply stared at the girl, slight confusion in his eyes. Didn’t she realize what this was? Was she stupid or something? This wasn’t meant to last. It was just a little stress relief for him, and a chance for her to say she fucked Xploshun.

“I figured you knew this was just a one-time thing.” he said, placing his hat back on his head, covering his short brown hair.

“I thought I felt something between us! Is this your sick fucking idea of fun?! To just use random women for sex and then leave?!”

Josh laughed out loud upon hearing her angry words. Did she seriously think he cared about her? Was she naive, or just stupid? She meant no more to him than the gum on the bottom of his shoe. The only thing that mattered to him was his music and the other wonderful things that came with that (two of which were poon and drugs).

“What are you, some lovestruck little teenager? You’re no different that any other fuckin' slut I’ve banged so far. This couldn’t last even if I wanted it to, and believe me, I'm not in any hurry to see you again any time soon. You should just count yourself lucky I won’t make you pay for all that blow I had that you used up last night. In fact, I-“

He cut himself off. His heart was racing, for some reason, and it made his already swimmy vision blur even worse. Josh staggered a little, hitting the bedside table and knocking everything off it. His eyes grew wide as he realized what was happening to him. He looked to the girl in the bed, darkness beginning to overtake his mind.

“H-hospital...” was all he said as he collapsed to the floor.

*****

“Clear the halls! We’ve got a patient coming through!”

Five nurses were all crowded around a speeding gurney as it burst through the ER doors, all talking loudly, instructing those around them what to do.

“Get a heart monitor and an IV in him, stat!”

“We need to get him stabilized now!”

“He’s going into cardiac arrest!”

A doctor rushed into the brightly lit room as everyone was bustling about, frantically trying to save the young man on the gurney.

“What’re we looking at?” asked the doctor, reaching for a nurse nearest him.

“Male, 25. Has no history of any sort of heart condition, but he’s got so much drugs in his system, it’s a wonder he isn't dead right now.”

“Possible overdose?”

“I would imagine.” replied the nurse, lowering the clipboard she was holding, and looking at the patient on the table.

After about five minutes, Josh was completely hooked up to everything they could get him on, from a heart monitor to a respirator, and the doctor was simply watching to make sure nothing went wrong.

“This young man’s lucky to be alive.” he said, more to himself than anyone else in the room, which was still in quite a
panic.

Almost as soon as he said those words, the heart monitor flat lined.

Acting on instinct, he looked to the wall, and the defibrillator.

“Grab that defib!” he shouted, grabbing a set of gloves from nearby and putting them over his hands, “HURRY!”

In an instant, he had the paddles out and charged, ready to go.

“Three…two…one…CLEAR!” he shouted, hitting Josh’s lifeless body with a burst of electricity.

The young man’s body jolted upwards, but the monitor didn’t change. The doctor swore, and hit him with the electricity again. Once more, the body jolted, but no change. Two more times, he blasted him with electricity, to no avail. Almost ready to give up, he tried one more time.

“Three…two…one…CLEAR!”

A brilliant burst of light filled the white room, making everyone turn and look away from the bright blast. The doctor was thrown across the room as the light swelled and began to pulsate gently. After about a minute of the intense and unexpected show, it dimmed and all was normal once more. Only one thing was out of place from before: Josh was no longer on the table.

*****

It was night time in the land of Equestria. Luna’s bright beautiful moon floated in the night sky, bathing Sweet Apple Acres in its silvery glow. Applejack lay sound asleep in her bed, dreams of applebucking shooting through her mind. All was peaceful and calm. All was normal.

Suddenly, a bright light burst onto the farm, pulsating and creating brilliant shadows of everything around it. It lingered for only a minute, then quickly dissipated. Though it was brief, it was enough to rouse Applejack and Big Macintosh, both of whom groggily got up and stepped outside their bedroom doors.

“What in tarnation was that?” asked AJ, grabbing her hat and heading downstairs to the screen door.

“No idea.” replied Big Mac, yawning as he stumbled behind his sister, “Think it’s some sort of unicorn prank?”

“I don’t think so.” said the orange earth pony, squinting at the point where the light came from, "Ah can't imagine even a prankster would be up this time of night."

As she drew closer to the spot, something came into view. However, her vision was so blurry, she couldn’t quite make out what it was. At first, it looked like a rather small fallen tree, but she realized that would be ridiculous. They never planted trees this close to the barn. It wasn’t till she saw it move slightly that she realized she simply couldn't write it off as an illusion.

She ran closer to it and began to inspect this odd form. What she saw was a tall creature with short brown hair on its head, a hairless body, and pale skin. It was unconscious, but was shifting around, as if in a dream.

“By Celestia…” said a wide-eyed Applejack, looking down at Josh’s unconscious form laying on the ground.